The Confidence Game
by liketheriver
Summary: Carson atones for past sins and Sheppard ends up paying the price. Radek wears the cloak of command…as well as his tuxedo, and Rodney end up with a gun pointed at him…yet again. SheppardMcKay friendship
1. Bait and Switch

_RATING: T for language and adult themes._

_SEASON: Third season sometime after Phantoms but before The Return._

_MAJOR CHARACTERS: The boys, of course, (if you don't know who I'm talking about, you're in the wrong fic) told from the POV of Carson and Radek… and the rest show up, as well._

_CATEGORY: a little of this, a little of that._

_SUMMARY: Carson atones for past sins and Sheppard ends up paying the price. Radek wears the cloak of command…as well as his tuxedo, and Rodney end up with a gun pointed at him…yet again. Sheppard/McKay friendship._

_SPOILERS: A few things are hinted at, but not much is spoiled. Anything up to and including Phantoms is fair game, though and maybe a slight one for The Return Part 1._

_FEEDBACK: Yes, please. I thrive on it and so do the bunnies._

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own them, else I would be able to explain why they can understand the residents of Pegasus when they speak to them, but not Radek when he speaks in Czech._

_NOTES: This story is part of the Dictionary series and all that that entails. You don't have to read the others to follow this story but a few refs might make a little more sense if you did. The list is on my profile page if you're interested._

_ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Special thanks, as always to Koschka for the final once over and how she kept demanding more of this fic even though it kicked my ass worse than I kicked John's. And thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed my other stories…it really is very much appreciated!_

**The Confidence Game**

**by liketheriver**

**con-fi-dence** (kan fih dEns), _noun_, **1.** Trust or faith in a person or thing. **2.** A trusting relationship **3a.** That which is confided; a secret **b.** A feeling of assurance that a confidant will keep a secret **4.** A feeling of assurance, especially of self-assurance. **5.** The state or quality of being certain. _adjective_, 1. Of, relating to, or involving a swindle or fraud.

xxxx

**Chapter 1: Bait and Switch**

Have you ever had one of those days where you had to ask yourself, how did I end up in a predicament like this? Have you ever had one of those days multiply like a warren of wee bunnies until you were asking yourself, how will I ever get out of this predicament now? Have you ever come to the conclusion that evidently all those good works I had performed along the way were never going to be enough to counteract the mistakes? That was exactly the situation I was in and unfortunately I'd brought Colonel Sheppard along for the trip.

The cell they had been holding us in was dark, and damp, and probably that last place I would want to be caring for an injured man. But Colonel Sheppard, good lad that he is, hadn't complained once, even when Rodney and I had had to set his broken arm without the benefit of pain medications, so I had tried to follow his example and do the same. And I will be the first to admit, it was a difficult task I had set for myself. The men holding us were a bunch of thugs, plain and simple. They took great joy in taking Colonel Sheppard out of the cell, beating him into a bloody pulp then returning him to me while they played with my medical kit outside the door.

"Not so high and mighty now, are you Doctor," Fornus, their leader, would taunt as I worked with the few supplies they would allow me… scrap bandages, a bucket of water, and a rough lye-type soap. At least the water was clean and I had bartered my watch for a bottle of the grain alcohol that one of the guards was drinking the second night we were here, so that I was able to clean the wounds as best I could. I had learned to bite my tongue, seeing as the last time I had spoken up, they had immediately dragged the Colonel back out and returned him with the broken bone. "Won't be killing off an entire race of people now, will you?"

Fornus and his men were Hoffans, or at least they had been. They were a few of the survivors that had escaped the effects of the inoculation that had killed half their population and the Wraith genocide that had finished the job. Now they called themselves Hollorans, having sworn off the advancements their society had made, blaming the downfall of their civilization on everything from the technological growth to the station that women had been allowed to hold, laying much of the blame for their demise at dear Perna's feet. They had set up a sort of outpost on a neighboring planet, and had quickly gained a reputation as reliable traders if a little odd in their beliefs.

Still, when the expedition learned that this reclusive band of merchants had a ZPM for sale, we had no reason to be anything but guardedly excited. Well, aside from Rodney, who was anything but guarded. He was gearing up to head through the gate as soon as the words passed through Major Lorne's mouth in the debrief. Still, at that time we had no reason to make a connection with the Hoffans. The Major's warnings about women being considered subservient in their culture and their rather primitive ways had them leaving Teyla behind. Besides, this was Major Lorne's find, so to speak; therefore, his team would take the lead. Rodney was going to confirm the viability of the ZPM, Colonel Sheppard was going to either keep Rodney in check or oversee Lorne's negotiations since Elizabeth couldn't, or maybe a little of both. And then I was called in as the commodity they claimed they desired most…medical assistance. And that's where everything had gone horribly wrong.

"Colonel?" Squatting over where Sheppard had curled into a ball on the stone floor, I reluctantly woke him to check his lucidity. Sleep was the only refuge he had from the pain and I hated to interrupt that, but he had taken some nasty lumps to the head that had me more than a little concerned.

Glassy eyes opened to stare through me for a second before finally focusing on my face. "That time already, Doc?"

"Aye, lad, that it is. Sorry." The faint smile that I gave him when it was apparent he knew where he was and what we were facing faded as he shivered violently. And the hand I rested on his neck had it turning to a frown. "You're running a fever, Colonel."

He snorted as his eyes slid shut again. "Wild West medicine has its limits, I guess."

"If I could only get my hands on my bloody field kit." I spit the words as I glanced bitterly toward the locked door. I'd be damned to hell if I let something like an infection brought on by unsanitary conditions kill a man under my care.

"McKay'll bring help," he assured confidently even as he pulled his jacket he had draped over his shoulders tighter with another shiver that morphed into a hiss of pain.

"I'm sure you're right, Colonel," I forced the agreement even through my doubts and worries that our friend had actually even been allowed to return to Atlantis, despite what our captors had promised in front of us. They'd already shown themselves for the scam artists that they were, my presence here was proof enough of that.

"McKay'll bring help," he repeated in a sleepy slur, and I had a feeling it was as much to reassure himself as me.

Before I could respond, the door leading down into the cellar opened and several pairs of booted feet could be heard descending to our cell. Two large men stood behind Fornus as he tilted his head toward the Colonel. "Can he walk?"

"If he can, t'will be a bloody miracle and no thanks to you. You know, there's no need to keep my kit away from me when I have no intentions of treating you or your men. But Colonel Sheppard needs the medicines I carry in it and isn't opposed to their use like you are."

"I'd actually, really, really, like them," Sheppard supplied from the floor as he moved to push himself up to a sit.

"We'll see what this Weir of yours has come to offer and maybe he'll be able to go back to wherever it is your people are hiding and they can do whatever they want."

The Colonel and I looked from one to the other in surprise. "Dr. Weir is here?" I asked hesitantly, not sure if I found that to be good news or bad. By the way they treated the women in their camp, I couldn't imagine they would hold much respect for her authority.

Fornus signaled and one of the men unlocked the door as he informed us. "He's here. And he refuses to negotiate until he sees that the two of you are alive."

"_He_ is here?" Colonel Sheppard inquired with a grunt as I helped him to stand.

"Yes, he is," the man responded testily. "I told you I wouldn't discuss the terms of your release with anyone other than your leader. Now come."

Supporting Sheppard as best I could, we made our way slowly up the stairs flanked by the guards. I squinted against the bright sunlight that met us as we exited into the street above, my eyes not used to the glare after so long in the cell.

"I thought you said they were okay." Blinking, I could just make out the form of Rodney pointing an irate finger in our direction.

"I said they were alive," Fornus countered.

"Well, way to get by on a technicality." Rodney tried to move to Colonel Sheppard's other side to take some of his weight from me, but one of the guards had other ideas. Before he could so much as place a hand on Sheppard, the large man stood menacingly in front of him. And that's when I realized Rodney wasn't alone.

Ronon appeared behind the physicist, tilting his neck until it popped in a decidedly threatening manner. "Is there a problem?" the Satedan asked simply.

Realizing the Colonel and I were standing right in the middle of what promised to be the smack down event of the century, I tried to back away, only to find myself stepping back into the frame of the second guard. "I don't know, you tell me." The second guard's crack of knuckles only accentuated his request.

Sheppard, who was barely standing, grit out a cautious, "McKay." Although, I wasn't sure if he was warning him to get out of Ronon's path of attack, or to get him somewhere where he could sit down before he fell down. But before anyone could do anything, another familiar, thickly accented, voice snapped from somewhere off behind the large men blocking my view.

"Rodney!" That, however, was all I could understand as the rest of the sentence was spoken in Czech. Craning my neck, I could just make out Radek, dressed in a tuxedo, with a scantly clad Teyla draping an arm around his shoulder.

"Mother Mary and Joseph," I murmured in dumbstruck awe at the sight.

From this close, I could see that familiar jutting jaw tense…evidently Rodney wasn't very happy with my assessment of the situation… before he stood straighter and turned angrily to Fornus. "Dr. Weir is not pleased with the condition of his men. There will be no negotiations until they have been cared for properly." Somehow I doubted that was what Radek had said.

"You should consider yourself lucky that we allowed you to see them and are even entertaining negotiating with you."

Fornus's bristling tone only infuriated Rodney more. "And you should consider yourself lucky we don't just blow the hell out of this settlement of yours from orbit, which is exactly what we will do if they don't live. So, you decide, giant fireball of death wiping out everything in sight or give Beckett his medical kit back and finally let him do his job."

"You don't know where this particular world is located. I do not take well to false threats."

"You know we have technology well beyond your capabilities, including long-range scanning and tracking abilities. Do you really think that the leader of our expedition would come to this planet just to recover two men without some sort of security to back him up? But, hey, it's all up to you."

I couldn't help but wonder if Rodney's pluck had more to do with his ire at Sheppard's condition or the fact that Ronon stood ominously behind him. Whichever it was, it worked, although humming the 'Jeopardy' theme under his breath may have been taking it a bit far. Formus looked over at Radek who was doing his best to appear bored and indignant at the same time while wearing his dress suit, which gave him the appearance of a prematurely balding teenager attending the spring formal.

But it must have been good enough for the former Hoffan, because he finally flicked his hand at one of his men and sent him to retrieve my kit. "We'll be back after we eat our midday meal," he promised and he left, too, although several of his men still stood guard. The man between us and McKay gave both Rodney and Ronon a disdainful snort before following after his leader. As soon as he stepped aside, Rodney stepped in with Ronon relieving me of my burden, as well. Which was a good thing, seeing as the Colonel's knees gave out as soon as Fornus was out of sight.

"I thought he was never going to leave," Sheppard sighed as his teammates eased him to the ground.

"Easy, Colonel," Rodney soothed. "We'll have you home in no time."

"I don't suppose you really do have a jumper in orbit, do you?" Sheppard asked longingly.

"Not just at the moment, but we're working on it."

The Colonel leaned back heavily against his friend's shoulder. "Please tell me I'm delirious and that's not actually Zelenka in charge."

"Of course not," Rodney scoffed as he worked off his own jacket and wrapped it around a shivering Sheppard. "Give me a little credit here."

"Well, thank God for small miracles," I breathed in relief.

"No," Rodney beamed smugly, "I'm running the show here."

"You?" I demanded a little loudly, which resulted in Rodney shushing me with a glare.

"On second thought, I take it back." The Colonel's wince had little to do with the physical pain he was in. "Lie to me and tell me Radek's in charge."

And all I could think was, have you ever had one of those days where someone feeds the wee bunnies Viagra?

xxxx

Gate travel; not one of my favorite undertakings.

But given the choice between accompanying Major Lorne's team off world and accompanying Rodney on his monthly inspection of jumper maintenance logs, I chose the field. Who could blame me? "Radek, why did you calibrate the sensor to this antiquated standard," he would say. "Radek, I thought you overhauled the _entire_ guidance system? Radek, give me your ham sandwich." Rodney, he can find fault with anything as long as he was not one to perform task in first place and steal your food while you try to justify your actions. Who needs headache and grumbling stomach like that when can be out in the field with nice Major and his Marines instead? They talk little, yell less, call me sir, stand between me and danger. Unlike Rodney who takes credit for all equipment loudly for all to hear when it operates properly, but backs out of room and claims it is engineer's responsibility when it starts to spark.

So I had gone with Marines to avoid the monstrosity of McKay. Some might call it cowardice, others avoidance, still others desertion…the glare I received from the rest of the engineers as I left the lab in my field gear suggested that the latter was consensus decision. I, however, considered it prudence. And when we entered the small village of stone homes and dirt roads, I considered that it might just be waste of time. But the fresh air, sunshine and lack of noise pollution that was my direct supervisor on Atlantis had to count for something. And when one of the villagers pulled Major Lorne aside, obviously recognizing our technological advancement, to show him sketches of items we might be interested in that a band of traders were offering for sale, I decided it counted for a lot more than I had thought possible.

"Dr. Zelenka, you might want to take a look at this." Major Lorne, such nice young man… very polite, very observant, and very good with large gun that dangled down the front of his vest… and the fact that he gave Rodney hard time when they were on missions was not to be discounted. "See if there's anything you think we might need in here." He handed over the collection of drawings, placing one on top meaningfully. "And pick out something pretty for yourself."

My eyes widened in amazement at what I saw and the Major gave me a look to say 'don't let them see how excited you are'. But how could I not be? Not with the one item that we needed more than any other on Atlantis possibly within our grasps. But I am not Engineering Division poker champion for no reason. Adopting a bland expression I started flipping through the pages. "Yes, is very pretty. Would make most excellent decorative doorstop. And there are other things here we might have interest in. Can we see them?"

The middle-aged man shook his head. "They are not here on our world. I receive a service fee for sending potential buyers to the Hollorans."

"Hollorans? I've never heard of them before."

At Major Lorne's observation, the man provided us information about the traders that we then shared with Elizabeth and the others during our debriefing. "There are approximately fifty people in the settlement. From all accounts, they move around a lot. They set up shop on a deserted planet for several months at a time before moving on."

"So they're nomadic traders," Elizabeth observed of Major Lorne's description.

"No, Ma'am, not exactly. It appears to be a sort of religious sect. They don't go out looking for trading partners. They distribute their catalogs around and wait for the buyers to come to them. By all accounts, they keep mostly to themselves. They don't like visitors that aren't there to trade, evidently stock some fairly high-tech items but don't use them themselves and have some rather old-fashioned ideas about the role of women in their society. And no one is given the direct address to the world they are on. They use various shuttle locations… buyers convene on one world and are met and taken to the Hollorans from there."

"And the people that provided you with this…catalog, they believe these Hollorans are safe to deal with?" Colonel Sheppard indicated the papers that Rodney was looking over intently.

"They felt they were safe enough if you don't insult them."

"And exactly how would we do that, Major?" Dr. Beckett asked from his seat, his face suddenly set with worry.

"Women on the team, showing up uninvited, sending in too many people, slighting their way of life…those sorts of things."

"Okay, so I guess that means Teyla and McKay sit this one out," the Colonel observed as he sat a little straighter.

"And why am I immediately discounted?" Rodney demanded.

"Because, Rodney, you have a way of insulting everyone you come across. In fact, you seem to take a great deal of pride in that talent."

Rolling his eyes, Rodney shook his head. "This is a ZedPM we're talking about, Sheppard, not a drought resistant seed or the most technologically advanced garden hoe the Athosians can use. There is no way I am staying behind for this mission."

"Rodney, it is Major Lorne and I who found the ZPM. We should be the ones to go negotiate trade, yes?" I turned to Elizabeth for her concurrence with my logical conclusion.

But before Elizabeth could answer, Rodney had something to say. It was not surprising; Rodney always has something to say. "Correction, Radek, you found a _drawing_ of a ZedPM." Holding up the sketch in demonstration of his point he turned to address our expedition leader. "If anyone is going to go find the real thing, it is going to be me, the foremost expert on ZedPMs in this or any other galaxy." Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak, but Rodney was not yet done. Once again, to no one's surprise. "And, I promise not to say a word to anyone beyond 'show me the equipment'."

"Very well," Elizabeth sighed. "Rodney, you and Colonel Sheppard will accompany Major Lorne and one other Marine from his team to the settlement. If what the Major says is true, we want to keep the number of Atlantis personnel to a minimum. Dr. Zelenka will be available if there is need of an additional scientist."

I tried my best not to pout in front of others. But I was not the only one. Teyla and Ronon were none to happy when they heard the news, nor were the other members of Major Lorne's team. In fact, the only person that was truly happy with the setup was Rodney.

I found him in the lab packing his equipment that afternoon. "You are going so soon?"

"So soon? It's been almost five hours since the debriefing. I thought the Hollorans were never going to give us the okay to come to their village."

"It is not like you are missing blue light special, Rodney. We are only people in entire Pegasus Galaxy that even know what the ZPM is for. It is doubtful that anyone else would have bought it first."

"The Genii know we want one. They've already used that against us once." He disappeared below his workbench as he spoke.

"The Genii are now our allies," I pointed out. "Ladon Radim helped to save Colonel Sheppard's life."

"Ladon Radim knows that an Ancient drone can do just as much damage to their settlements as one of their nuclear weapons or a Wraith blast." He appeared again with a toolkit and sensor that he placed in his backpack. "He would have been an idiot not to help us."

"So, now you trust no one?"

"Let's review, shall we. We trusted the Genii and Sheppard and I ended up at gunpoint in their underground bunker. We trusted the Hoffans and they ended up killing off most of their population. We trusted the Dagans and ended up at gunpoint having a ZedPM taking away from us by a beautiful archaeologist. We trusted the Genii again and ended up gassed and at _gunpoint_ …surprise, surprise… and seconds away from watching Sheppard have his brains blown out before they did the same to me. We trusted the Wraith and I ended up strapped in a cocoon on a Hive ship on my way to watching the destruction of Earth. Shall I continue or have I had more than enough guns pointed at me by supposed friends to prove my point?"

"It is the sad man that goes through life without friends," I clucked with a disapproving shake of my head.

"I have friends," Rodney protested, maybe a little more defensively than usual. "But unlike some social butterflies from alternate realities, I just limit the people I trust to a select few, most of whom I can count on one hand."

"But you do not trust me to obtain ZPM from Hollorans." With crossed arms, I challenged his assessment.

"Are you still sulking about that? Christ, Radek, this isn't elementary school." He stuffed his laptop into the bag and zipped it closed.

"No? Are you sure? You are acting like bully on playground pushing everyone out of way to get to favored toy."

"It's not a toy, Radek. And if you haven't noticed, we are totally screwed around here without one." And now I understood why he insisted on going. He still felt he was the one responsible for depleting the ZPM to stop the rift and allow his alternate self a chance to return home. And, technically, he did, although in truth there were many that could share the blame. But Rodney felt the need maybe more than anyone to make things right again. Hefting his pack he rolled his eyes. "Look, it if makes you feel any better, I'll let you be the first to get your hands on it when we get it through the gate."

I perked up in cheerful anticipation. "Really? You will allow me to take lead on the study?"

"Don't be absurd," he sputtered. "I meant you could touch it. Hold it even… maybe… if your hands are clean and you're standing on a pile of pillows." Patting me on the shoulder, he walked out the door with a chuckle. "Lead up the study? You're a funny guy, Radek. Don't let anyone ever tell you any different."

"And you are petty man, Rodney," I called after him. "Petty, petty man."

With a grumble I sat at my station and prepared to work until the illustrious Dr. Rodney McKay returned triumphantly through the gate with the ZPM held aloft for all to see and admire. Of course it was almost two days before Rodney returned through the gate and his return was anything but triumphant.

xxxx

You just know it's not going to be a good day when you have just poured your first cup of coffee and before you even have the chance to take a sip you get a call on the radio from Dr. Weir. "Carson, I need you in the conference room, please."

There was no panic, no medical emergency, nothing like that. But there was definitely an urgency in her voice that set my spine to shivering. And reporting to the conference room, I found out why. Major Lorne and Lt. Rowley were speaking with our expedition leader when I entered and asked, "Where are Rodney and Colonel Sheppard?"

"Back with the Hollorans," the Major provided with a disgruntled frown.

"Was there a problem with the negotiations?"

"Yes and no," he wavered.

"Well, that doesn't sound very reassuring." I looked to Elizabeth for more of an explanation.

"It seems the Hollorans refuse to even begin negotiating for the ZPM until they see what we have to offer… in person," she clarified. "And their primary request is for medical assistance."

"In fact, that's their only request," Major Lorne continued.

That set the alarm bells ringing. Most people that we came across wanted the technology…weapons, tools, transportation… with food and medicine coming in a distant second, although that was always our first offer. "Do they have a medical problem we should be aware of? Something possibly contagious?" I was already thinking of how many people in the gate room had come in contact with the two men that had been off world and what sort of containment protocol I might need to enact.

"No, not that I could see. They just insisted that they wanted medical assistance for the trade and that they wouldn't even show us the ZPM until they met our lead doctor."

Relaxing slightly I chuckled, "Well, I'm sure Dr. McKay was none too pleased with that arrangement."

The lieutenant standing behind Major Lorne bit his lower lip and suddenly looked to his feet, obviously trying to hide his amusement. The Major tried his best to give the young man a disapproving look but couldn't keep the small smile from his own face. "No, he wasn't. In fact, they requested that he be the one to come and fetch you. When he refused to leave until they showed him the ZPM, they told him that if he wanted to stay so badly, they could arrange for him to remain permanently and hauled him off at gunpoint."

"Is he all right?" My worry was only slightly alleviated by their obvious humor.

"Aside from complaints about the unsanitary conditions of the cell they locked him in, he's fine. Colonel Sheppard made it very clear that if anything happened to Dr. McKay, there would be no deal no matter how many ZPMs they paraded in front of us."

"And you believe that will be enough to keep him out of harm's way?"

"They seem to be willing to do almost anything to get you there, Doc. And when I say you, I mean you specifically."

Looking from the Marines back to Elizabeth, I suddenly had an idea why that concern had been in her voice when she called me. "Me? They asked for me by name? But how…?" I was rather shocked by the news to say the least.

"Evidently your reputation precedes you," Major Lorne informed me. "They recognized Colonel Sheppard's and Dr. McKay's names and requested that you come as part of the negotiations. They say they've heard of your skills as a healer through mutual trading partners and are very anxious to have you help them, as well."

Frowning harder at the thought of what this might mean, I hadn't even noticed that Elizabeth had moved to my side until her hand landed on my arm. "Carson, normally I wouldn't send you on something like this, not with the suspicious nature behind the information that they have about you and the others."

"But we are talking about a ZPM here," I provided. "As well as the fact that they are holding Rodney and, for all practical purposed, Colonel Sheppard."

"And we have no idea how to find them," Major Lorne continued. "We're supposed to bring you back to the contact planet within an hour or they'll be gone and we'll have no way to contact them again."

Nodding my head in understanding, I sighed. "Then I'd best gather my things so that we can go."

"Carson, we can give you a transponder like we use to track the progress of the MALPS through the wormhole."

"But," I added sensing her addendum, "that will only be able to locate me through an open wormhole."

Nodding in agreement with my conclusion, she did try for a ray of hope. "Normally we could track you similar to how Rodney was able to locate Ronon when he was taken by the Wraith. But with the limited long-range scanning capabilities we have now without a ZPM we'll have to wait for the Daedalus to return to locate you should anything go wrong."

I could tell that Elizabeth's reassurance wasn't what she hoped it would be. "And how long until the Daedalus reaches Atlantis?"

"Fourteen days but she will be within scanning range within nine."

My stomach knotted at the news. Nine days before help would arrive might as well equate to nine years. But what else could I do? Leave Rodney and the Colonel in the hands of these Hollorans? Not very likely. Forcing a determined smile I started for the door. "Well, then I'd best pack a couple of changes of clothes just in case."

Not that it did me one bit of good. As soon as we stepped through the gate my bags were confiscated, the Marines were taken in one direction and I was led in another. Behind me and through the small copse of trees that were obscuring my view, I could hear the gate activating, then I was being led through… without Major Lorne or Lt. Rowley.

"Where are the others?" I demanded as we started up the stairs.

"They won't be joining us," was the only answer I received.

"What have you done to them?"

The hand that clamped onto my arm and the handgun that was shoved into my ribs stopped my progression in the direction I had last seen them. "They are no longer any concern of yours."

With a last look back, I was shoved roughly through the gate and stumbled out into the Holloran village, the fate of the two other men that had accompanied me from Atlantis unknown. The settlement had once been a rather advanced society by the looks of it, somewhere along the lines of Sateda, and the Hollorans had settled into the rubble. Partially demolished buildings had been cleared and missing walls replaced by canvas tents. A few children could be seen playing in the streets, but they were quickly gathered up by the women as we approached and led cowering into the dwellings. Those that were slow to disappear were berated loudly by the men escorting me and the women mumbled fervent apologies for their apparently insubordinate behavior before ducking out of sight.

"Is that completely necessary?" I remembered what Major Lorne had said about insulting their culture but the fact that I had no idea if the man that had delivered that warning was dead or alive, I found a little insulting to my own culture.

"Women should know their place. Those that don't live within the limits that we have established for them are a danger to us all. It is as much for their protection as our own."

Scowling in distaste at the answer I received, I mumbled, "Well, then, I would hate to see how you treat the people you aren't trying to protect."

And unfortunately, I was correct in my assessment because I was soon led down into the basement of a building that had been flattened down to the foundation, the floor hatch opened onto a metal stairway lit with wall torches reeking of an animal-fat oil. Making my way down the steps, I blinked against the dim lighting and saw two figures moving to the bars of the cell they were being held in.

"Aw, hell, they sent you." Colonel Sheppard's voice put to rest any doubts I might have had about the situation we were currently in…we had just walked into yet another trap, the perfect bait and switch..

"Where are the Marines?" And Rodney's demand just went to confirm how bad I was now seeing our predicament truly was. "You were supposed to come back with two Marines. Where are they?"

"They weren't allowed to accompany me beyond the rendezvous planet," I informed him as my eyes finally adjusted and then widened as I could see them clearly for the first time. "What happened to you two?"

Rodney touched gingerly at his nose that still showed a smear of blood on his upper lip, as well as a stain on his shirtsleeve. "Our hosts didn't really take too well to McKay's demands that he be released," Colonel Sheppard supplied, his own bloodied lip with accompanying darkening bruise testament that Rodney was not the only one to anger our captors.

"And they really didn't take well to Sheppard's response to their reaction to my demands that I be released," Rodney chimed in.

"Call me crazy, but I tend to get a little upset when people start beating up my team members in front of me… no matter how much they might have deserved it."

"Oh, so _now_ it's my fault," Rodney's frustration was dampened by the slightly nasal quality his voice had acquired thanks to his injury.

"No, Rodney, it's _always_ been your fault," the Colonel countered. "Calling them backwater hicks that make the antagonists from 'Deliverance' look like the finalist for the Field's Medal in Mathematics definitely didn't help matters."

"Like they have any idea what either of those references mean." Rodney sniffed and checked his nose for blood once again.

"They evidently got the gist of it," Sheppard drawled with a meaningful jut of his busted lip.

"I have a feeling you would have received the same treatment even if you had sat like choir boys at High Mass," I mumbled as the door opened again and a man entered flanked by two others. He was almost a head shorter than the two men that accompanied him, thin, with short-trimmed blonde hair and large brown eyes. He smiled when he saw me, the type of smile that a schoolmate you haven't seen for years might give if you ran into him at a reunion, like he had been looking and waiting and hoping that you would show and now you finally had. And it made the hairs on the nape of my neck prickle just to see it.

"Dr. Carson Beckett. After all this time, we have finally managed to bring you to our humble home." He waved an arm around the room. "Do you like it? It's not as grand as my forefathers had hoped for, but it has served us well and obviously the Ancestors have seen that we have given up our excessive ways and rewarded us for our humility by delivering you to us."

"Do I know you?" I asked warily.

"Forgive me, where are my manners? I am Fornus Hollor, leader of the Holloran tribe." The smile transmuted the tiniest bit, becoming less friendly and more victorious.

Instinctively moving away from the man, I found myself with Sheppard and McKay standing on either side of me, if separated by the metal bars at my back. "Is there something in particular that you were hoping I could help you with?"

"Actually, there is. You can let me close out the last lingering chapter of our old lives. Dr. Carson Beckett, in the name and memory of Hoff, I arrest you on the counts of genocide and high crimes against the Hoffan people."

"You're Hoffans?" Was that my voice squeaking like that?

"There are no more Hoffans. The Ancestors punished them for following the likes of you and the other scientists by sending the plague, and when that didn't destroy them all, they sent the Wraith to finish the job. But there were a few of us to survive, because we chose to live a life devoted to simplicity and devotion that has made us the blessed of the Ancestors. All that has remained is for us to seek justice for the disease mongers. You are the last. And now, you are here."

Fornus smiled proudly at his accomplishment in a way that made me feel weak in the knees. To my right I heard Rodney snort lightly. "Huh. What do you know? Ends up it was Carson's fault all along."

xxxx

Two hours after Carson left, I was still irritated. It should be me on negotiation team, not Rodney. When five hours had passed, I found I was antsy. How long does it take to trade medicine for ZPM anyway? After ten hours, I was troubled. Why had no one at least updated Dr. Weir on progress? After twelve hours, I made my way to the control room and learned I was not the only one concerned. Maybe it was good thing I did not go with Major Lorne's team after all, I decided. When fourteen hours had passed, Elizabeth gathered a team to investigate why we had heard no word.

The four Marines had assembled in the embarkation area and been dispatched to the last known location of the five missing men to see what they could find. Ronon had gone with them, simply shown up in the gate room with his gun on his hip and his sword on his back and a look on his face daring anyone to question why he was there. And very prudently, in my opinion, no one did. I had watched them go from the control room with Elizabeth on my one side and Teyla on the other.

Teyla was in her field gear also, arms crossed angrily across her chest. "This is ridiculous, Elizabeth. They are my team, as well."

"And we are dealing with a people that might find your appearance in a position of power a threat. And as ridiculous as their beliefs may be, there are too many unknowns at this time to risk setting them off, Teyla."

"I understand, it is just…" The Athosian leaned against the railing in frustration. "I am not used to being told that I cannot do something simply because I am a woman."

"There is nothing worse than being made powerless just because someone says you are." Elizabeth leaned forward, as well, with a sympathetic smile. "But we know better, don't we?"

Not placated by Elizabeth's consolatory tone, Teyla glowered into the empty stargate. "All I know is that my three teammates are somewhere on the other side of the gate and I am waiting here because I have no penis." Teyla's heated words had me backing slightly away for fear that she may decide to take some action against the nearest offending appendage.

"I've never understood that," Dr. Weir pondered, also staring off into the distance. "How they can think that one silly little organ somehow makes them superior when, in many ways, it's one of their greatest vulnerabilities."

The two women turned their heads toward me simultaneously and gave me matching accusatory glances, as if I were the designated representative for the male of all species. I lifted my hands in an unthreatening manner. "I would just like to say that I find both of you to be very powerful and threatening women, even without penises."

"_Even_ without?" Teyla questioned dangerously.

"That is to say, I do not consider myself your superior because of one silly little organ… I mean, not that it is little." Did I really just say that? Out loud? By the somewhat shocked and disbelieving looks on their faces, I evidently did. "Not that you would want to know something like that. Correct? No, no, of course not."

Before I could find an excuse to remove myself, the gate provided one for me. It burst to life behind the shield and the Marine heading up the rescue team called over the radio, "Atlantis, request a medical team be sent to our location."

Elizabeth nodded and the technician sitting at the controls called to ask for one. "Sergeant, what's the status there?"

"Major Lorne and Lt. Rowley were found tied to a tree. They're conscious but have both suffered head wounds."

"And Dr. Beckett?" she asked warily.

"There's no sign of him, Ma'am."

Ronon cut across the frequency then. "Lorne says the Hollorans separated them as soon as they arrived on the planet. They must have taken Beckett back to the planet of their main settlement."

"That seems likely, Ronon," Elizabeth agreed. "Are there any clues as to where that is?"

"Not that I've found, but I'm thinking we could probably get some information from the people that pointed us toward these traders in the first place."

"Major Lorne said they told his team they only knew of the meeting location where you are now," Teyla interjected and I nodded my agreement.

"Yeah, well, maybe they just didn't ask them the right way," the Satedan growled back.

"For now let's concentrate on what we do know and that is that Carson was taken through the gate." Elizabeth eyed me as she spoke. "I'm sending Dr. Zelenka over to recover the most recent addresses from the DHD. If we have to, we'll start a planet by planet search until we find them."

And that was how I found myself off world on yet another recovery mission bashing my head into the DHD as I raised it too quickly when I heard footsteps approaching.

"Dr. Zelanka, Ronon has assured me that the area has been secured. There is nothing to be worried about."

Teyla's reassurances did little to calm my nerves, but I quieted my curses in my native language and forced a small smile of thanks where she stood above me as I lay on my back and worked to download the data from the unit. It ends up it was the footfalls of her teammate and the Marines that had startled me in the first place.

"Almost done?" Ronon, it seemed, could not stand still. He paced around the consol like a tiger in tiny cage even as I finished the connection. I found it odd, here we were outside with room to roam freely and he moved liked trapped animal. But then again, he was caught in the same trap as we all were; the desire to do something to help our friends without the ability to do so.

"Download has started. It will just take a minute to complete."

"This is insane," he grumbled. "How many addresses will you recover?"

"Approximately fifty." I winced at the snarl the large man let out when I gave him the news.

"Fifty worlds. It'll take days to search them all."

"Did Major or Lieutenant not see anything?" I asked him from where I lay on the ground. "Even one symbol could narrow search considerably."

"They didn't see anything." His booted foot sent a rock flying off into the trees and I thanked my lucky stars that he had aimed it in that direction instead of toward me. "They could be dead by the time we even find the right planet."

"They could be dead now, Ronon," Teyla snapped. "But I, for one, will not let that stop me from finding them or the people that took them." I couldn't see above their knees but by the way their feet were squared off I could imagine their faces were just as rigid.

Ronon was correct. They could be dead. But why not just do it here if that was the plan? They seemed to want Carson alive, and hopefully that would be enough to keep Rodney and the Colonel alive, as well. And then something dawned on me.

"Dr. Beckett's field kit, was it here?"

At my question, Ronon squatted beside where I worked. "No, we didn't find anything."

"Then he still has transponder with him."

"But I thought the long range scanners could not scan that far without the ZPM." At Teyla's observation I began disconnecting the equipment from the DHD.

"And the Daedalus is still over a week away," Ronon added.

"Yes, but with addresses, we will not need to scan entire galaxy," I explained as I sat up brushing leaves from my hair. "We can scan the individual planets through the wormhole. Not as efficient as scanning all planets at once, but much quicker than searching each with a rescue team."

"We can do that from Atlantis?" Ronon helped me to stand…or should I say lifted me like crane hefting steel beam. Very _large_ crane lifting very _small _steel beam.

"Yes. I will need to realign the sensors to read through the gate, but should not be too difficult to accomplish."

Ronon didn't release his hold on my arm, as if I might dart into woods if he did. As if he couldn't catch me if I decided to try. "Dial the gate, Zelenka has work to do." His tone almost made me think I should try, because if this did not work, Ronon would not be happy. And Ronon is much too large to be unhappy at me. Unhappy at bad men holding our friends, yes, that I could support. But unhappy at me… the trees were looking more and more tempting.

In the end, I did not run. I went back through gate, brought together a team of my own…engineers, physicists, a gate tech or two…and within two hours we were dialing the first address, looking for our missing men.

_TBC_


	2. Cop and Blow

**Chapter 2: Cop and Blow**

"How long has he been gone?" I hadn't really expected an answer when I mumbled the question into the dim light of the cellar where we were being held, but I received one anyway.

"Forty-three minutes." I looked back from where I stood by the bars of our prison to where Rodney sat with his back against the earthen wall. He may have been sitting, but he wasn't still. Honestly, Rodney was never still unless he was anesthetized. But he had given up the pacing a good twenty minutes before in exchange for a foot that never stopped fidgeting and thumbs that never stopped tapping against his bent knees. With a scowl, he looked again to his watch. "Make that forty-four minutes."

"You don't think…" I couldn't finish my inquiry. The implications of what they could be doing to Colonel Sheppard while we sat here in a damnable cage caused my stomach to flip-flop nauseatingly. "They were looking for me, after all, not him."

"Yes, Carson, you are the one they want," my cellmate agreed bitterly. "Which means Sheppard and I no longer serve any purpose, doesn't it? Except to make your stay here all the more unenjoyable."

Turning away from the anger that I knew he was only directing at me because none of the Hollorans were around to receive it in my stead, I rested my forehead against the metal bars. "Then they should have taken me instead of the Colonel."

"Of course they should have. But you know Sheppard wouldn't let them do that. I swear to God the man takes martyr supplements along with his multivitamins every morning."

I'll admit my knees had turned to rubber when the two large guards had arrived a little over forty-four minutes before and informed us that Fornus wished to speak to me. Because, let's face fact, when a religious zealot who blames you for the destruction of his entire race requests your presence, chances are it's not going to be to discuss Proust over Earl Grey and crumpets.

And that's when Colonel Sheppard had stepped between me and door. "If Fornus is talking to anyone, it's going to be me."

"He doesn't want to talk with you," came the succinct answer.

"I'm the leader of this team. I'm the one with the authority to speak on behalf of our people."

"Fornus isn't interested in what your people have to say. He wants to speak with Beckett."

The Colonel shifted his weight slightly, standing a bit straighter and taller. "Well, you can tell Fornus that Beckett isn't available, but I am."

Even I could see that the man was going to take a punch, and Sheppard, who trained regularly, easily pivoted out of the way and countered the wide swing with an openhanded fist to the man's face. The guard reeled back, blood already spurting from his broken nose, as the Colonel turned his attention to the other guard. The man moved in with a stubby metal club and Sheppard shifted again to plant an elbow in the man's ribs and in a few seconds had the club in his own hand, twirling it menacingly like one of the sticks he used to spar with Teyla.

Rodney pushed me forward toward the open door. "Move! Go!" And I scrambled past the scuffle and out into the room beyond. We were going to escape! The Colonel would secure the guards in the cell, we would sneak out through the settlement, and be through the gate in a matter of minutes. My prayers had been answered and we were going to be back in Atlantis by suppertime.

That's when I heard a rather nasal voice behind me. "That'll be enough of that." The guard with the busted nose was standing with a gun to Rodney's head, his opposite arm wrapped tightly around the physicist's neck causing Rodney's face to turn a deep red.

Sheppard dropped the club when he saw the disturbing sight, holding up his hands in surrender. "Okay, you can let him go, now." The guard just glared and seemed to squeeze a little harder. "Goddamn it, I'm unarmed and so is he. Just let him go!"

Rodney, who was fighting to remain still against the gun to his temple while his body was fighting to draw breath, twitched in the man's clutches. "How does it feel?" The guard gnashed menacingly. "Watching one of your people die and not being able to do anything about it? My entire family died from the plague and I could do nothing more than watch them waste away."

Evidently his need for oxygen won out, because Rodney's hands started scrabbling at the muscular arm around his throat, his face shifting from crimson into purple. "We didn't do that to your family," Sheppard reasoned. "And killing him isn't going to bring them back."

"No, it won't," he agreed but showed no signs of releasing his hold on Rodney.

"What the fuck do you want from us?" The Colonel demanded in frustration as Rodney's fighting weakened and his eyes started to roll back. "Let him go!"

"Me," I interjected desperately. "You wanted me, you have me. These men did nothing. I was the one that developed the virus. I'm the one that should face the consequences. Let him go and take me to Fornus."

The guard studied me for a few seconds. "Yes, you definitely need to face the consequences." His eyes narrowed and I saw his finger tighten on the trigger. And I thought, 'This is it. He's going to blow Rodney's brains out in front of me as punishment and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it.' And for a split second I hoped that I was still back on that planet with the Wraith device that caused the hallucinations because that would mean that this wasn't real and I wasn't going to stand helplessly by and watch another man die.

Sheppard evidently saw the same thing I did because he let out a ragged, "Stop!" while I was fighting to find my voice to do the same.

Not that our words had any impact on the man, except maybe to spur him on, but the door opening at the top of the stairs and Fornus yelling down, "What is the delay down here?" evidently did.

The man released his hold at the sound of his superior's voice and Rodney folded down onto his hands and knees with a jagged inhalation of air. Sheppard dropped in front of him on his own knees, a hand on Rodney's back and eyes watching intently as our friend fought to cough and breathe at the same time. Afraid to move from my spot seeing as the guard still held the gun and stood between me and the other two, I listened closely for any rasp or gurgle that might indicate a crushed windpipe.

Fornus reached the bottom of the steps and surveyed the scene before him. "What is going on down here?"

With an angry glower, Colonel Sheppard stood and pointed a finger at the guard with the bleeding nose. "He tried to kill one of my men. Is this how you remember your dead, by killing unarmed prisoner?"

The man behind the Colonel had retrieved his club and used it to whack Sheppard across the lower back. He was back on his knees again in a heartbeat and Fornus was standing over him. "How we honor their memory is none of your concern."

"Well, if it involves beating and strangling us, then I think it just might be." The Colonel's comeback was met with a boot to his ribs.

"Stop it!" I yelled as another foot was raised to deliver another blow. "Just stop it!" Watching my two friends as they lay injured on the floor, I took a deep breath of my own and continued. "You wanted me, not them. They had nothing to do with any of this. Just let them go and I'll do anything you want."

Fornus fixed me with that comfortable smile. "I don't think you're in any position to bargain, Dr. Beckett."

"Perhaps not, but that doesn't change the fact that these two men weren't involved with what happened on Hoff. And if you just let me check them out, I'll go with you willingly."

"Doc," Sheppard groaned from the floor, "shut the hell up."

"Sorry, Colonel, I can't do that. I can't stand by and let you and Rodney take the punishment that was meant for me."

Glancing between the men on the ground and me, Fornus suddenly developed a dangerous glimmer in his eyes. "No, I don't think that you can, can you?" With a flick of his head toward Sheppard, he told the guard, "Bring him."

The men moved to haul the Colonel to his feet and Rodney croaked out, "Wait…" before he descended into another coughing fit.

"Don't worry, McKay, I'm going to get you out of here," he assured as he was dragged through the door and past me where he told me simply, "Make sure he's all right."

Darting into the cell to squat beside Rodney, I demanded of Fornus, "Where's my medical kit?"

"Upstairs." The answer was simple and matter of fact, exactly the same way he shut and relocked the door.

"Well, a bloody lot of good it does me up there."

The former Hoffan didn't even look back as he responded, "Yes, I know." And then he was up the stairs and the trap door shut, leaving Rodney and I alone in the cellar.

"They're going…to beat…the living shit…out of him," Rodney informed me needlessly. Because why else would they have taken him and not me? Fornus was one right smart bastard. Evil and probably driven mad by what he had witnessed on Hoff, but there was no denying his intelligence. He had concluded that the only thing worse than them taking and beating me would be to do it to someone I was responsible for as a physician…and then deny me the tools to help him. He was absolutely right.

And some fifty-three minutes after they had disappeared to the world above with Colonel Sheppard, Rodney's assessment was proven correct. Rodney had been fortunate…no real damage had been done other than a nasty bruise on his neck. But John obviously had not been so lucky. And the way they dragged him down the stairs and dumped him unceremoniously on the floor of the cell in an unmoving heap, I feared that they had taken it further than just a sound beating.

"You sick, disgusting sons of bitches!" Rodney spat out between the bars as I checked and thankfully found a pulse. "Oh, you're such big, bad men," he mocked, "beating up defenseless hostages."

"He was hardly defenseless," the one man responded, pointing to his swollen nose.

"Yeah, I'm sure it was a real fair fight." Rodney's biting words were in sharp contrast to the worried look in his eyes when he turned back to us.

"He's alive, Rodney," I reassured. "A bloody mess, to be sure, but alive." Rolling him over gently to his back, I took in the multitude of lacerations and darkening bruises even as I checked for signs of internal bleeding and broken bones.

Sheppard's eyes slivered open as I pressed gently into his abdomen. "Carson, you sure know how to make a lasting impression on folks." His voice was little more than a murmur and the smile he tried to give was stained red.

"And you're the poster boy for how to win friends and influence people," Rodney snipped as he shrugged out of his jacket and put it under the Colonel's head.

"Don't get too comfortable, Rodney. You're going home."

Stopping my examination, I looked to Rodney and then to Sheppard, but it was Rodney who spoke. "What the hell did you do?"

"I let some intelligence slip," he mumbled weakly as the door swung open again and the guards brought in a bucket of water and a wad of handmade bandages.

"What are these for?" I tossed the fabric aside in contempt.

Fornus leaned casually in the door. "These are for you to treat Colonel Sheppard's injuries. We're a little worried about a few of them."

"Worried?" Rodney challenged. "You just about worried him to death."

"Well, if that's the case, Dr. McKay, I suggest you impress upon your leader, Dr. Weir, that we are set in our resolve. Our terms are simple: Chancellor Druhin for the life of Colonel Sheppard."

"Druhin? We don't know where the Hoffan chancellor is?"

At my protest, Fornus just smiled. "There is no need to maintain the lie. We had always assumed Druhin was killed in the final culling, but Colonel Sheppard told us how you provided him asylum after the Wraith attack."

"Tell Weir I'm sorry for being so weak under torture. I don't deserve to command a jumper full of Marines." He patted feebly at Rodney's hand. "Ronon would do a better job. He should wear the cloak of command."

Ignoring the coded message he was being given, Rodney protested, "But why am I the one going back? You should go, Sheppard. You need medical attention..."

"No!" Fornus cut off Rodney's reasoning. "Sheppard stays. Beckett is a physician, isn't he? He can care for him."

"With drinking water and a few scraps of material?" I snapped back. "It's not only ludicrous; it's absolutely barbaric, especially when I have a full medical kit just upstairs."

"What's barbaric, Dr. Beckett, is inoculating an entire population with a drug that killed as many as it was supposed to saved."

Unable to take the sneer on Fornus's face, I yelled back. "I did not approve of that plan anymore than you did! Now, I'm sorry that your people died from their own ignorance and lust for victory over the Wraith regardless of the costs, but I will not stand by and let good people suffer for the mistakes of others!"

"Take him."

At Fornus's quiet orders, the guards pulled Colonel Sheppard back to his feet. "Hey. No, no, no, no, no." Rodney trailed behind them until he was pushed back behind the bars when they entered the small holding area outside. "Carson, apologize. Take it back. Something."

"I'm sorry, I won't say another word about the Hoffans, I swear." But my pleading evidently fell on deaf ears as they took the Colonel's arm and extended it on the small wooden table.

"He's excitable," Rodney rationalized with them frantically. "He didn't mean it, really. Tell them, Carson. You didn't mean it. He didn't mean it."

"I didn't mean it," I repeated as ordered, but it was halfhearted because they were obviously not paying a bit of attention to my apology and it became clear what Fornus had in mind when he himself lifted the club over Sheppard's arm.

"See? It was all just a misunderstanding. So, there's no reason for you to do anything rash here. Just…don't!" But Rodney's last request was drowned out by John's strangled scream when the metal bar came crashing down with a sickening crack on his arm. "What the fuck? Why the hell did you have to do that? You evil pieces of malicious…"

Pulling the irate scientist back against the far wall, I forced back my own insults and I hissed at him, "Colonel Sheppard has given you a way to go back to Atlantis and bring help. Don't anger them anymore or you won't have anyone to bring help for."

He sucked in a heavy breath and nodded his head, snapping his mouth shut. Behind us, Fornus told me, "You will take responsibility for your actions, Dr. Beckett. And one way or another, you will atone."

Rodney shoved past me and caught Sheppard before he could drop once more to the floor. "Bastards. No-good, ignorant, lying bastards. No ZedPM is worth this."

"You do realize," Sheppard managed to say between a jaw clenched in pain, "there is no ZPM, don't you?"

"You do realize your arm is broken, don't you?" Rodney countered back.

"If the two of you are finished stating the obvious, we need to do something about the only one I can do anything about." I examined the broken limb, not the least bit pleased with what I found.

"Dr. McKay, it's time for you to take our offer to Dr. Weir."

Fornus stood with a patient expression on his face as Rodney provided a backrest for the Colonel during my exam. "I'm going to need him to help me set the bone, then he can go." Softening my tone slightly, I added. "If that's okay with you."

He quirked his lips in amused pleasure. "That will be fine."

"I don't suppose it's a clean break?" John asked hopefully, his skin damp and ashen even in the cool temperature of the cellar.

"No, lad, I'm afraid it's not." Rodney paled visibly at my conclusion but Sheppard just nodded in understanding.

"Neither was the one I had in third grade." Steeling himself against the inevitable, he ordered tersely, "Let's get this over with."

"Rodney, I need you to brace his upper arm. Don't pull, just hold it tight and let me do all the work. Do you understand?"

Wide blue eyes widened even further and he simply nodded as he reached an arm around Sheppard's chest and gripped the arm tightly in both hands.

"McKay, in case I'm not… awake when you leave, you know what you have to do, right?"

Rodney nodded again and swallowed down his concern. "Don't worry; I'll take care of it," he confided. "I'll see you when I get back, Sheppard."

"Yeah, see you when you get back."

"Ready, lad?" I asked the Colonel in preparation.

"Hell, no," he choked on a small laugh, his fist white knuckling the arm that braced him against the inevitable pain that was to come.

"On three, then. One. Two. Three."

John was slumped unmoving against Rodney's chest before it was all said and done. And honestly, I was almost thankful for the reprieve the faint allowed him from the pain. If possible, Rodney was paler than my patient when he was led from the cell shaking and looking back to where I sat monitoring the Colonel. And I knew that it was only partially a result of setting the broken arm. Thank God he was going back to Atlantis. We had been given no food since I had come and the bucket of water was our first fluids. The last thing I needed to deal with was Rodney's hypoglycemia acting up on top of everything else. "You did well, Rodney. The arm should heal fine." If given the chance, I added silently with a glare at the men at the door.

"Just…take care of yourselves until I get back."

I forced an encouraging smile. "Aye, lad. That we will."

I watched as he was led up the stairs and the outside light shone down through the opening. I had no idea how long we had been here. A day at least since I had arrived. A lifetime it felt like. When Rodney was gone and the trapdoor shut again, I turned back to Sheppard and began cleaning his wounds. Eight days until the Daedalus arrived I figured. If Rodney couldn't bring help, then that was how long we had to wait until they could scan for our location. But eight more days like the one we had just had and there wouldn't be anyone left to find.

xxxx

"Unscheduled offworld activation!"

At the announcement, I perked from where I was finishing the analysis of the last scan I had run looking for Dr. Beckett's transmitter…once again unsuccessful. Ah, well. I was not one to give up. If living a childhood under communist rule had taught me anything, it was patience and persistence. Elizabeth was out of her office the moment the first chevron locked and we, along with everyone else in the room, looked anxiously to the gate tech when the wormhole established behind the shield. "It's Dr. McKay's IDC."

Elizabeth did her best to maintain decorum and keep from beaming happily at the news. "Lower the shield," she ordered even as she started down the stairs with me close on her heels. Our smiles faltered, however, when Rodney, looking worse for wear, walked through the gate alone.

He stalked straight past Marines on guard duty and demanded immediately. "Where are Teyla and Ronon?" Fingers snapped impatiently as he frowned in thought. "And Lorne. We need to put together a team and figure out a way to find the planet we were being held on. Maybe a cloaked jumper…"

"Rodney, slow down."

Ignoring Elizabeth's request, he started for the stairs himself. "We don't have time. I have twenty-nine hours to bring you back with Chancellor Druhin. But, of course, I can't bring _you_ back and we don't _have _Druhin, so we need to come up with something else."

"Chancellor Druhin of Hoff?"

At Elizabeth's inquiry he snorted. "Well, how many Chancellor Druhins do you know?"

"Rodney, what is going on? What happened? Where are Carson and Colonel Sheppard?"

Blinking as though he realized for the first time that we had no clue what had been happening for the past day and a half that he had been gone, he stopped and regarded us earnestly. "The traders are Hoffans."

"What?" I echoed Elizabeth's shock with an astonished exclamation of my own.

"They're Hoffans, or what's left of the Hoffans, and they used the ZedPM and us to lure Carson right to them. They blame him for everything…the failed virus, the deaths, the Wraith attacks, everything. And they've figured out the best way to torture Carson is to torture someone else, namely Sheppard." Rodney swallowed thickly with a shake of his head as if trying to clear away a bad dream. "They broke his goddamn arm right in front of us, Elizabeth. Just took a club and whack! And we had to set it and I had to hold it still and he just went limp while we were doing it and…"

Taking his own arm that he had extended in a form of example as he rambled on, Elizabeth started leading him herself. "Rodney, we'll come up with some way to get them back. Let's just get you to the infirmary first and checked out. We'll get everyone together, and you can tell us all what happened."

Rodney let her guide him along dazedly as he continued to talk. "They won't let Carson have his medical kit. They tried to strangle me and threatened to shoot me. We almost escaped but the big guy with the broken nose… oh that was great! Sheppard just, pow! Right in the face!" His legs wobbled near the top step and I moved in to take his other arm. As if noticing me for the first time, his face darkened angrily beneath darkening angry bruises. "That bastard had one hell of a grip. He could have killed me. He almost did kill me." Shaky knees buckled and we did our best to break his drop to the floor.

Concerned with how he suddenly paled, Elizabeth pushed his head down between his bent knees and called for a medical team. Rodney's muffled voice drifted toward us as he continued to tell us about Carson trying to bargain for their freedom and complained that Colonel's self-sacrificing nature just made more work for him in the end. Turning to address me while Rodney continued his disjointed story, she directed, "Radek, keep scanning the planets. We need to find where they're being held."

Rodney's head snapped up then. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean scanning the planets? How are you scanning the planets without the Daedalus? We don't have the power to scan…"

Cutting him off, I explained quickly what we had been doing trying to locate them and Rodney's eyes widened in alarm. "Stop scanning. They have guards stationed by the gate. If you dial in to where Sheppard and Carson are being held, they'll think it's suspicious and they'll kill them. They're that nuts."

"Rodney." Teyla's voice held a combination of worry and relief as she saw her teammate on the floor as she and Ronon entered the room.

Waving a distracted hand he offered a feeble, "Hey, guys," before dropping his head back between his knees then, as if remembering that they were the first people he was looking for when he came through the gate, looked up again. "Oh, good, you're here."

"Where're Sheppard and Beckett?" Ronon demanded after a quick scan of the room.

"Doesn't anyone ever listen to anything I say? The Hoffans have them."

At their confused expressions, Elizabeth explained what we had learned. The crinkle above Teyla's brow turned into a furrow of concern as she squatted down, as well. "Rodney, when did you last eat?"

"Eat? I don't know…when we all had lunch before Sheppard and I left to negotiate for the ZedPM."

"That was over a day and a half ago," she told him with a deeper frown.

"Really? Has it been that long? They didn't give us any food."

"His blood sugar has dropped. He tends to get a little…distractible when that happens. Elizabeth, do you have anything to eat in your office?" Teyla simply took control of the situation, sending me to fetch a power bar from the top drawer of our expedition leader's desk. When I returned, Rodney was telling them once again about giant hoodlum with broken nose as the medical team starting hooking him to a blood pressure cuff.

"So, what happened to _your _nose, McKay?" Ronon asked as I handed over the snack.

"They punched me. Why? Does it look bad? Sheppard swore it didn't look that bad and Carson said it wasn't broken." Touching it delicately, he whined, "Oh man, it looks bad doesn't it? I probably look like Karl Malden."

Teyla and Ronon seemed puzzled and Elizabeth explained simply, "An actor back on Earth…with a large nose."

"Streets of San Francisco, Detective Lt. Mike Stone." At my further clarification, they all looked to me. "Was good cop show." So sue me, I like American detective dramas. "Act Three: The Alibi." Even my dramatic flash of hands did little to impress them. Shifting my glasses up, I mumbled, "But is neither here or nor there right now."

Dismissing me with little more than a raised eyebrow, Ronon assured Rodney, "I'll make sure the guys who did it looks worse. Now, eat up so you can get to work on how to find them."

"Unbelievable," Rodney bitched around a mouthful of powerbar. "I really do have to do everything."

"Do you not always tell us that you are the only one that _can_ do everything?"

Teyla's comment had him shrugging in contemplation. "True." And a second power bar had him shaking a little less.

We accompanied him to the infirmary and, even with Elizabeth and I there, the absence of the other two people that would normally be present during similar situations was more than conspicuous. Like nine-hundred pound gorilla in room that no one was mentioning…only not there. So, I guess correct phrase would be like nine-hundred pound gorilla not in room and no one mentioning. Which would be like every other normal day, only was not normal, only… Who comes up with such ridiculous expressions anyway?

The other physicians were covering the absence of their chief medical officer, much like I and the other scientists had been covering when Rodney was gone. Dr. Biro was on shift when we arrived and she examined Rodney with a brusque efficiency, making notes into her recorder much as she would during an autopsy.

"Subject, Meredith R. McKay…"

"It's M. _Rodney_ McKay." Poor Rodney had received more than his fair share of teasing over the revelation of his first name so that it was no wonder he bristled. So unfortunate for him that mother's maiden name couldn't have been more manly name like Steele or even more mundane like Jefferson. Although he should consider himself lucky it was not something worse such as Woodcock. No, Rodney's bad luck was enough to cause grown man to weep. I know it brought tear to my eye every time I called him Merry in the lab. Childish of me, perhaps. But proof positive that there is such a thing as cruel irony in the universe.

Dr. Biro simply ignored his modification. "Caucasian, Earth-born, male, age forty-two…"

"Thirty-eight," came Rodney's snippy correction.

"Really?" Eyes that had spent more time perusing his file than his person stared down her nose at him in skepticism.

"Yes, really. Doesn't it say so in my records?"

"It does, but I just assumed it was a typo."

"Well, it's not."

Angry blue eyes glared back at the wire-rimmed ones but all he received in response was a simple, "Hmm."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means, Dr. _M._ Rodney McKay, that I may not have you on my slab today, but, despite your propensity for ending up here in the infirmary under irregular circumstances, I will probably get you under my bone saw much sooner due to very natural ones."

"Well, you don't have to seem so please about the prospect, Dr. Mengele. Christ. Take two cyanide tablets and call me in the morning," Rodney mimicked before turning to fix Elizabeth with a desperate look. "We have to get Carson back. I'll take Little Bo Peep over 'Little Shop of Horrors' any day."

Elizabeth rested a sympathetic hand on his arm as she asked, "Is Dr. McKay well enough to be released?"

Dr. Biro made a few notations in her patient's file without looking up. "Aside from borderline dehydration, a precariously low blood sugar level, and a systolic blood pressure level that reads higher than his self-proclaimed I.Q., he should be fine. Drink at least a gallon of water over the next day…coffee doesn't count… and eat a good solid meal as soon as you leave here," she ordered briskly. "No sweets… your blood glucose levels are less stable than a teeter-totter right now, plus you have more than enough of a blubber layer to keep you warm this winter. Besides," she added in a droll afterthought, "fat tends to bind up my blades."

Teyla bit her upper lip to keep from grinning, whereas Ronon and I both let snickers escape. We were rewarded by glares all our own before it was returned to Dr. Biro. "Where did you learn your charming bedside manner, at the knee of Don Rickles?"

"Never saw any reason to sugarcoat these things, McKay. Carson's too much of a mother hen with you lot, in my opinion." Her gruff tone softened slightly. "But we're all a bunch of baby chicks running around here without him, so I expect you to bring him home." Clearing her throat, she continued, "Water, food, and some sleep wouldn't kill you…just the opposite actually. We'll see you when you come back with Dr. Beckett and Colonel Sheppard."

With that final reminder, she was gone without so much as a goodbye and on to the adjacent curtained area and her next victim. "Lt. Robbins, another casualty of the free weights, I see. Well, let's get this puppy x-rayed and see if I get to use my new bone nibbler on it…double action, seven and a half inches…it is a thing of beauty to see in action. I'll even just use a local so you can watch."

Walking by the sectioned-off exam room, I could see young lieutenant's freckled face pale to the point he looked like redheaded Dalmatian. "Christ," Rodney mumbled as we made our way out the door, "since when does Sweeney Todd pass the psych evals around here? And what the hell is a bone nibbler anyway?"

"Just one more reason to be glad mother's maiden name wasn't Woodcock," I offered under my breath.

Rodney may not have agreed with Dr. Biro's rapport, but he did follow her medical advice, for most part. With pudding cup firmly in hand and empty lunch tray in front of him, he finished his story of what he and the others had experienced at hands of their captors. "So, Sheppard told them we had the Hoffan Chancellor and that you might be willing to trade Druhin for his release."

"What about Carson's release?"

Rodney shook his head at Elizabeth's question. "We could offer them an entire Hive Ship of Wraith to torture as they see fit and it wouldn't get us Carson." Scraping last of his dessert from its plastic container, he informed us, "The only way we're getting him out is by force, which is just one more reason why you can't go."

"But I thought you said they won't negotiate with anyone except me?"

He raised the spoon he had just licked spotless to accentuate his point. "I said they will only negotiate with Dr. Weir. I didn't say it had to be you."

"You are suggesting we send in someone other than Elizabeth to pretend to be Dr. Weir?"

"Give the Athosian in the front row a prize," Rodney beamed as he abandoned the spoon and used his finger to scrape out dregs of chocolate clinging to container in his hand.

"Since you seem to have this all worked out in your head, just exactly who are you suggesting go in my stead?"

Ignoring the raised eyebrows of our expedition leader, he tilted his cup in the light to better discern if more pudding was hiding in corners as he pointed his newly sucked-clean index finger in my direction. "Radek."

I was pleased to see that I was not only one shocked by his suggestion. "Are you serious?" Major Lorne demanded. "We could be going into a firefight here and, no offense to Dr. Zelenka, but that's the last place we need an inexperienced man."

"No, no." I shook my head in total concurrence. "No offense taken. In fact, could not agree with you more. Rodney, I cannot negotiate for Colonel and Carson's freedom."

"Ah, see, there's the beauty of my plan. You won't have to. You just prattle on in Czech and I'll translate for you." At mirrored confused looks around the table, Rodney continued as if speaking to dense children. "They may not even let me go back to the planet. They could do just what they did with Lorne and his men when they took Carson and leave me at the rendezvous location. But Radek gives me the advantage in two ways. First, they will need me to translate for him, thus making it necessary for me to go back. And second I need another scientist capable of operating the autodialer while I try to negotiate the release."

"Autodialer? What autodialer?" I demanded.

"The one we're going to make," he answered simply. "The DHDs from the jumpers dials the gate remotely. The consol itself is rather large for convenience of dialing but the transmitter is actually quite small and can easily fit in your hand. We preprogram the transmitter with the address to Atlantis and activate it once we are back on the planet, thus dialing back here."

Quickly catching on to where he was going, I chimed in. "Then they scan for Carson's transponder through the open wormhole, determine spatial coordinates of the planet like we do with MALP, and cross reference with Ancient database for actual gate address."

Nodding in approval he continued. "Then it's just a matter of Major Lorne and his rescue team swooping in and saving the day… as a follow on to my having already saved the day through my technical brilliance."

"But I thought you were afraid they would kill them if the gate activated?" Dr. Weir challenged.

"Well, that's why we're going to be there, to stall until the jumper can arrive, which shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Although seeing as I won't be here to actually find the correct address, I'll give them five, seven tops. We won't activate the dialer until we have them both in sight and hopefully in our possession. And of course, Dr. Weir, being an incredibly important dignitary, would never travel without, say his personal body guard," Rodney inclined his head toward Ronon, "and his alluring female companion." He smiled happily at Teyla who returned his grin at promise of being able to accompany us on the mission. "And in a perfect world, a platoon of Marines, but I doubt we'll be that lucky to smuggle them through with us."

Elizabeth's brow creased in consideration and she turned to Major Lorne, "Do you have any opinions about this plan?"

"Yeah, it sucks." When Rodney opened his mouth to protest, he spoke a little louder to override him. "But it may be the only choice we have."

"Unfortunately, I agree," Elizabeth sighed as she pushed to a stand. "You have a go to build your autodialer, but I want it tested from the Alpha Site before I approve the mission in its entirety."

A few hours later, Rodney joined me as I was disassembling the DHD in one of the jumpers. He was newly showered if not rested and I was sure the dark circles under his eyes had just as much to do with lack of sleep as the punch he had received to his nose. "Where is water bottle to keep Dr. Biro at bay?"

Squatting beside my knees as I lay on my back under the consol, he snorted. "The only water that could possibly do that is Holy Water."

"I think I have decided Halloween costume for this year. If only can get my hands on bone nibbler." The transmitter came loose in my hands and I wiggled out. Michelangelo spent four years lying on his back on scaffolding painting frescos on ceilings of the Sistine Chapel. I have feeling that by the time I leave Atlantis, I will have at least doubled that time on my back with feet sticking out from under equipment. "Still, should drink water. I fear dehydration has caused you to lose mind completely with suggestion that I pretend to be Dr. Weir."

"Radek, you do realize that anyone could have gone on this mission and pretended to be Weir, right? I mean we're building an _auto_dialer… push a button and it dials the gate. And Lorne could have babbled on in Pig Latin and gotten me through the gate as an interpreter."

"Then why…"

"Because I need a backup. You want to know why I say I'm the only one that can do anything, it's because in the field, I'm the only one that can do anything." He shook his head with a roll of his eyes. "The other three on the team… if one goes down, then the other two can step in and do pretty much the same thing. Hell, I can even step in and fire a gun. Never mind that Sheppard claims my aim is only good on every other Tuesday and during full moons, a random spray of P90 fire is usually enough to scare most of the less technologically advanced races we come across."

"But, Rodney, that is more than I can do." For all my love of Bruce Willis movies, my experience with a gun was limited to surreptitiously firing acid at Kavanagh's belongings from across the lab with a squirt gun.

"I don't need you for the gun, Radek. We'll have Teyla and Ronon and a butt load of Marines eventually to cover that. What I need is someone I can trust to step in and do what I do… if…I … go down."

Rodney suddenly found his boots very interesting. Blinking in surprise at his admission that he put so much trust in me, I started, "Rodney, I don't know what to…"

"Don't let it go to your head," he blustered with false heat. "My first choice would have been Miko if not for that whole dislike of women in power that these crackpots have. I mean, I've seen her on the shooting range; it's like she's channeling the ghost of Wild Bill Hickok out there. My second choice would have been Kavanagh, seeing as I can't understand half of what he says anyway, and it is supposedly in my native tongue, so they would still need me to translate. But then we run into that same pesky restriction of presenting a woman in a leadership role, so that idea went out the window. And that left me with you."

"So happy that I ranked in your top three," I responded blandly before confessing, "Still, I don't know if I can do this."

"You'll have Teyla right beside you the entire time. That's why I suggested she go as you hoochie mama… just don't tell her that's what I called her," he confided. "But it will give her the perfect excuse to be within arm's reach of you at all times."

The prospect of beautiful woman hanging on my arm that was also a deadly killer, I had to admit, brought back many adolescent fantasies. Shaking my head to clear away thoughts of whether or not she might wear costume of leather straps like Aeon Flux did in MTV cartoons, I clarified my reservations. "I do not know if I can pretend to be powerful leader in front of these people."

With a sigh, he frowned in annoyance. "Radek, I've seen your DVD collection. You have every American-made action/adventure and crime movie ever made. Don't go through the gate as Radek Zelenka, go as James Bond or John McClane, or better yet, Don Corleone. You're going to negotiate, so make them an offer they can't refuse."

"Offer they cannot refuse," I pondered as he let out a loud yawn.

"Wake me when you've finished the programming. I have a liter of water and a bed waiting for me and a ghoul with a power saw fetish and medical degree hot on my heels if I don't take advantage of both."

"Oh, yes, yes, of course. Will call you when ready to test dialer."

Several hours later, after two successful tests from Alpha Site, we were still ten hours from designated meeting time. Rodney retreated once again to his quarters, claiming an overly full bladder and still sleep-deprived body. Although I wondered if he was really getting any sleep. I, myself, was much too anxious to sleep. Lying on my bed, staring at ceiling, trying to psyche myself up for my performance to come. What Rodney was wanting from me, it was definitely above and beyond the call of duty. But then, building nuclear bombs to destroy Wraith Hive ships would also qualify and I had not balked when asked to do that. Of course, I had much more self-confidence in the area of nuclear engineering than I did in pretending to be powerful leader. Finally out of desperation, I broke out my copy of 'The Godfather' and skipped to the scenes with Marlon Brando, watching his inflections, his confidence, his almost bored expression… his tuxedo.

Going to my closet, I pulled out the garment bag, lay it flat on my bed and slid down the zipper to reveal the tuxedo within. You never knew when you would need a dress suit. Anything could happen in another galaxy, I had reasoned, anything. Including having to pretend you were most ruthless mob boss in entire universe.

xxxx

No use crying over spilled milk, my mum used to always say. No use wasting time lamenting the loss of something as mundane as a cup of milk, especially when you can't unspill it. What's done is done. You can't undo the past. All you can do is sop it up and go on with the day. No, there's no use crying over spilled milk. But what about spilled blood?

Sheppard winced as I dabbed at the gash along his cheekbone. "Sorry, Colonel. Almost done here."

I dipped the rag back into the small cup of water that was stained pink by his blood that I had already cleaned away. Just sop it up and go on with the day.

"It's okay, Doc. Not your fault." He cradled his broken arm in the homemade sling I had fashioned out of the jacket Rodney had left behind. I may have learned the basics of health care in medical school, but I learned my practical inventiveness growing up in a family of seven. And the past couple of days had really put that to the test. When I didn't respond, didn't even make eye contact, his good hand gripped my forearm firmly. "It's not your fault, Carson."

I forced the best smile I could under the circumstances. "I appreciate you thinking that, lad. I really do." But appreciating it and believing it were too different things entirely.

I had pursued medicine to help people. Then again, didn't we all? Sure, some may have gone into the field for the money, the prestige, the rush of having someone's life in your hand, even. But, I've never known a physician that claimed he had obtained a medical degree so that he could hurt someone. Although that didn't mean, from time to time, it didn't happen. And sometimes… sometimes even the best intentions can't make up for bad execution.

I'd made mistakes over the last few years. I would be the first to admit it. I'd been blinded by a desire to help, I'd deafened my ears to the screams of another living being, and I'd hardened my heart to the grim facts of war. And I'd paid dearly as a result. All in the name of helping people, of helping _my_ people. But eventually, the face of the enemy became nearly impossible to distinguish from the face of those I was trying to save and considering that, it wasn't hard to understand why the surviving Hoffans saw me the way they did. Because my first step down that slippery ethical slope had been my first step through the gate and onto Hoff. And as a result, I had watched Perna die, caused Sheppard to partially convert into a bug, and heard Michael accuse me of becoming something I had always hated.

After we had been forced to destroy the colony of humanized Wraith, Rodney had come to try to console me. "You know, when Oppenheimer saw the first atomic blast, saw the weapon he had created, he's credited with having said 'Now I have become death'." With Rodney, it's always important to keep in mind that it's the thought that counts. Ignoring my rather appalled expression, he continued. "Actually, the first thing he said was, 'It worked'. He made the 'I have become death' statement later in a press conference talking about a piece of Hindu scripture that came to mind at the time of the blast."

"Do you have a point to this little history lesson, Rodney, other than to compare my research to the destructive capabilities of the Manhattan Project?"

"Actually, I do have a point; two, in fact. And you'd do good to learn from both of them. First, he was proud of his accomplishment from a purely scientific standpoint. It worked. And for a researcher, as I'm sure you know, that's the greatest feeling in the world. And second, even if he did end up regretting what he had created, it didn't stop him from being an amazing physicist."

Ignoring the subtle compliment, I had instead told him quietly, "I never intended for this to happen," thinking that 'this' was too small a word to encompass everything I meant… from Hoff, to Colonel Sheppard's infection with the retrovirus, to Michael and the eventual destruction of the detention facility.

"And I never intended to blow up five-sixth of a solar system." He had patted me on the shoulder as he headed back out the door. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions, Carson, and there isn't a person around here that hasn't contributed a stone or two along the way."

Now, sitting on a stone floor, cleaning away the blood of yet another innocent bystander to my actions, I had to wonder if Fornus had been correct and this was the way I was meant to atone for my sins. That maybe this cell was my own little purgatory as I set yet another paving stone firmly in place.

"This is not your fault," Colonel Sheppard repeated.

Patting his hand on my arm, I assumed my most reassuring bedside manner and promptly changed the subject. "How's your arm feeling? Is the binding too tight? The color looks good, although it's hard to tell in this blasted dim light."

"Carson…"

Cutting him off with a sigh, I looked him straight in the eyes. "John, I understand what you're trying to do here. And I'm thankful for the thought, truly I am. But even with my limited capabilities here, I am still the caregiver. At least let me have that, all right?"

With an almost imperceptible nod of his head, he told me, "Binding's fine, Doc."

Touching the fingers, they were cool to the touch from the temperature of the cellar but still held a certain amount of warmth. "Can you feel when I squeeze?"

A grimace at the gentle pressure told me as much as his words. "Yeah, I can feel it."

"Good, that's very good news."

"For you, maybe," he grunted through a snort.

"And for you. It means there doesn't seem to be any nerve damage, then. When Rodney brings help and gets you back to Atlantis, they'll be able to fix you right up, I have no doubt."

"When _we_ get back to Atlantis, _you_ can fix me up."

Negotiating his release would be hard enough. Mine would take a bloody miracle. But my protest was never voiced because that's when a guard came down the stairs with a bucket of clean water in one hand and bottle in the other. The water sloshed about as sloppily as the man walked, which led me to believe the bottle contained alcohol, and that was something both the Colonel and I could use.

The door to the cell swung open and I stood, placing myself between Colonel Sheppard and the intoxicated man. They had just brought Sheppard back from another 'interrogation' session so they shouldn't have been coming for him again so soon. But someone drunk might have ideas to inflict even more unsanctioned harm. He placed the water on the floor and used his bottle to point to the injured man behind me. "Fornus thought you should have some clean water after our last chat with your friend."

"Thank you," I offered warily, afraid that he might try something and not sure what I would be able to do to stop it, but the man simply turned to leave. Convinced that he meant no additional mischief, I stepped toward the door he was relocking. "Is that klavak you're drinking there?"

The man regarded me with suspicion before asking, "How do you know of klavak?"

"I drank some once…when I was on Hoff." I conveniently left out the fact that Perna and I had used it to toast the success of the first test of the prototype inoculation. "It's very similar to a drink from my world called whiskey. Do you distill it yourself?"

"My woman's brother does." He took a swig and contemplated the bottle. "About the only thing he's good for."

"Aye, that's often the case with in-laws in my experience," I commiserated.

"So you have a woman, too?"

By the way his unfocused eyes narrowed in calculation, I thought it best not to tempt him with the prospect of a widow to leave behind. "Oh, no, no. Nothing serious. I'm a bachelor still, to my mum's dismay. Not that anyone could live up to her standards, God love her. But two sisters and one brother are married, so I know all about no-use brother-in-laws." Actually, both lads my sisters had wed were good blokes. I had even graduated college with one of them. The drunken roll of eyes that I received in understanding had me feeling a little braver. "I don't suppose… would you be willing to share a bit of your drink?" I reached a hand through the bars and he pulled the bottle closer to his body. "Just a nip to ward off the chill."

His eyes darted to my watch, then he quickly looked away. "The grain is hard to come by. Even the one he used isn't the same as we had back home. It makes a harsher drink."

And, therefore, stronger and even more antiseptic, I was hoping. When he glanced again to the timepiece on my wrist, I removed it and handed it forward. "I wouldn't dream of not offering payment for such a valuable commodity. It's a very good watch. Keeps perfect time. Although you probably don't have a day divided by twelve, do you?" I chuckled lamely but kept my arm extended hopefully.

Craning his neck slightly, he informed me, "My woman, she likes pretty things."

I pushed the button to illuminate the dial and a sloppy smile played at the corners of his mouth. "A bonnie bobble for a bonnie lass?"

He frowned instantly when he realized he might have given away too much. But that's how the confidence game is played, isn't it? Gain the marks trust, find a common ground, then steal it away out from under them. "It keeps her from complaining too loudly, is all. A man needs peace and quiet when he's at home."

"Of course, my mistake for being so presumptuous." I pushed another button and it chimed delicately as the alarm sounded. He reached for it then and I pulled it back. "The klavak?"

With a final look between the two, he took a long swallow, then handed the two-thirds-empty bottle over at the same time he snatched the watch from my fingers. "You would do well to keep that hidden," he warned me with a disgruntled expression, even as he proceeded to push the buttons some more.

"Aye," I agreed sagely, "as would you."

I watched as he nodded gruffly before staggering up the stairs once again. When the trapdoor closed above us, I turned back to my patient. It wasn't morphine, but after a small taste of my own, I was convinced it would at least take the edge off the pain. "Colonel, take a drink of this."

He drank deeply before I could caution him against it, then folded into a coughing fit as the alcohol burned its way down his throat. "What the hell is that?"

"The closest thing to a pain killer I can get you right now." Pouring a bit on a scrap of cloth, I returned to cleaning his wounds before pushing the bottle back at him. "Drink up, lad."

"Doc, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to get me drunk." But he eagerly took another gulp of the liquor.

"Desperate times, desperate measures, Colonel." And it was with a touch of desperation that I grabbed the nearly empty bottle a bit later to keep it from tipping over when he sat it down with unsteady hands and his eyelids slid shut into as peaceful a sleep as he had had since I had arrived. Checking his vitals once again, I adjusted the jacket over him to keep the cool dampness at bay as best I could. Then I recorked the bottle and set it aside in a dark corner so it wouldn't be seen and would stay out of harms way before sitting myself down beside my responsibility and wrapping my own jacket tighter around me.

No, there was no use crying over spilled milk. But spilled alien whiskey? That would be another story entirely.

_TBC_


	3. Fast and Loose

**Chapter 3: Fast and Loose**

"Radek, what the hell are you wearing? We're going to a hostile planet, not the senior prom."

Picking at a piece of lint on my tuxedo lapel, I mumbled as best I could around cotton balls in my mouth. "You mean there was difference between the two at your school?"

"Honestly, no," he admitted before demanding, "What is in your mouth? Dear God, I meant to go as Don Corleone in attitude, not literally."

"It helps to get me in charac…" I coughed on cotton balls, readjusted them, then continued. "… in character."

"As what, my cat? Yes, that's very intimidating. Forget the horse head in their beds; you can hack up a hairball in their boots. They'll be quaking in fear as soon as they catch their breath from laughing their asses off." An insistent hand wiggled below my chin. "Spit them out. Let's go, Felix, we don't have all day."

Doing as he bid me, I watched in amusement as he dropped the wet cotton in disgust then wiped his hand on his black vest. "And where's your field gear?"

With a shrug, I reasoned, "You came back without field gear. I figured they will not let us take it to planet so why bother losing it? Besides, I am to be powerful leader, should look like powerful leader."

He frowned reluctantly at my rationale. "Well, actually, the tux isn't too bad. It will work with this." He took the small, preprogrammed autodialer with additional pieces of metal bits attached and pinned it on my jacket, like a metal corsage.

"So sorry, Rodney, but I don't like you that way. Besides, would be inappropriate to have romantic relationship with supervisor."

"Ha! You wish. I have a strict policy against dating anything fuzzy and balding faster than me." Stepping back, he regarded his work with critical eye. "Well, it's not very attractive but they have no idea that our leaders don't wear some sort of gaudy badge of station, so hopefully they won't try to take it from you."

I squinted down my nose to look at it myself. "When did you do this?"

He reached out and adjusted it slightly. "Last night."

"You were to be sleeping last night," I challenged.

"I did it when I wasn't sleeping. Now, let's go, Ronon and Teyla will be waiting."

We entered the gateroom to find that Rodney was correct. Elizabeth raised surprised eyebrows at my attire and I sucked in my gut to appear even slimmer than double-breasted jacket allowed…it is very flattering cut on my frame. Rodney simply shook his head. "Don't ask," he told her without even slowing our progress to the gate.

Ronon had a small smirk on his face and Teyla, dressed in her fighting skirts and midriff baring top inclined her head at me. "Dr. Zelenka, you look very… dignified."

"That was plan," I sniffed smugly at Rodney, who simply rolled his eyes. "And you look very… alluring."

"Well, then we have both succeeded in our ruse."

Opening my mouth to agree with her, I stopped as I realized what she said. Ruse? Did I not always look dignified? Rodney slapped me on the shoulder. "All right, people. Does everyone know what they're supposed to do? Radek, you speak only in Czech and try to look important. Teyla, you stay close to Radek and make sure no one takes the dialer and he doesn't screw anything up. Once we have Colonel Sheppard and Carson, you activate the device, but not before. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Rodney, we are all aware of the plan," Teyla granted patiently.

"Good. And Ronon, you just stick by me and… loom accordingly."

The Satedan checked his gun before reholstering it. "Yeah, McKay, I've got it. Let's go."

"Dial the gate," Rodney ordered with authority but I noticed how his hand fidgeted near his own thigh holster.

The gate burst to life and I exhaled heavily in my own anxiousness, jumping slightly in surprise as Teyla slid her hand into the crook of my elbow. "Do not worry. I will be right here."

I smiled gratefully as Elizabeth called down from the control room. "You have a go. We'll be waiting for your signal."

"Is Lorne standing by? He needs to be ready to go the very millisecond you've determined the address."

"We're already in the jumper, Rodney," Major Lorne's aggrieved voice came over the airwaves.

"Okay. Then… good. Just so you're ready." With a final, awkward wave of his hand, he motioned us forward. "Let's move out then." Approaching the gate, he stopped then signaled to Ronon. "After you."

"Good idea, McKay. Very commanding of you." The large warrior stepped through the gate followed by Rodney and a second later, Teyla and I, still arm in arm, did the same.

Rodney had been right. They confiscated most of our gear, including any weapons, as soon as we exited the stargate. But they did leave me my medallion dialer, for which I was very grateful. I had removed my jacket while they frisked me… mustn't wrinkle the fabric… and after only a cursory look at the ornament, promptly ignored it. They balked at allowing Ronon and Teyla through to their settlement, but when I ordered Rodney to dial the gate back to Atlantis in a snit, they conceded to our demands. What sort of threat were an unarmed man and pretty woman, I'm sure they reasoned. Especially when they had guns pointed at us. Let them think that, for all I cared. Stupid antagonistic aliens, kidnapping friendly Colonel's and sympathetic doctors, they deserved what they got. And if what Rodney had told me was true, Ronon could play hibachi chef with knives he had hidden in hair alone.

We were led through the settlement with little fanfare. Within makeshift dwellings I could hear the occasional baby crying or child laughing and women talking, but we saw no one; that is until we reached one of the few intact buildings in the village and were met by a blonde man about my height surrounded by several larger men with guns.

"Fornus," Rodney did very little to hide his dislike of the man, even as he went through the formalities, "may I introduce our leader, Dr. Weir. Dr. Weir, this is Fornus, tyrannical leader of the Hollorans."

He inclined his head in greeting, ignoring Rodney's comment, even as he addressed him. "I'm rather surprised to see you back, Dr. McKay."

"Due to cultural restraints, Dr. Weir speaks only the language of his birth country, although he understands others. But I can translate for him." Not waiting for a response to our farce, Rodney blustered on. "Now, where are Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Beckett?"

"Where is Chancellor Druhin?" Fornus asked in return.

"Did you honestly think we would bring so valuable a bargaining chip with us when we don't even know if our people are okay?"

"They live," he told us simply.

"Then let us see them." Fornus hesitated, seeming to measure our resolve. Adopting an irritated expression I snapped that we should just leave and head back to Atlantis as it was almost dinnertime. Rodney who only understood a few words in Czech that were similar to Russian ones translated, "If you don't, then the deal is off."

Fornus considered his options for a moment then decided perhaps he should abide by our request. Leaving several guards to watch us, he left to retrieve Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Beckett. It was only a few minutes that they were gone, but it seemed like hours as we stood waiting.

I wiped at rivulets of sweat that ran down my temple and Teyla draped an arm around my shoulder, leaning in to whisper in my ear with a provocative smile. "You are doing fine. It should not be much longer now."

Her body pressed against my shoulder, a spine-tingling combination of soft flesh and firm muscle and I felt compelled to make mental demand of 'why, God, why do you torment me so when I am just trying to do good and help friends?'

And I was still thinking same thing when I heard Rodney demand, "I thought you said they were okay."

Carson and Colonel Sheppard appeared, squinting against the light and they… well, they did not look good, either one of them. Carson was pale and haggard and Colonel, it was a wonder he was even still on his feet. Rodney had told us they had beat Sheppard, but by the livid color of red the physicist was turning, they had obviously committed more acts of violence on his friend since he had been gone.

"I said they were alive," Fornus countered.

"Well, way to get by on a technicality."

I reached instantly for the autodialer on my chest but Teyla's hand captured mine. Anyone watching would have taken it for a gesture of affection, but they could not feel the pressure she exerted and I feared that the small bones in my wrist would crumble under that grip. And I found that I was reconsidering my position on the positions I had previously been considering with the Athosian.

"Rodney!" I snapped when it appeared two guards and Ronon were on the verge of breaking into fight with McKay positioned right between them. "I am here with beautiful woman with equally beautiful breasts pressed against me and you are ruining moment with scuffle." Of course, everything I said was in Czech so no one understood, not even beautiful-breasted woman threatening to break my hand.

For the first time, the men we were here to rescue seemed to notice us and I did my best to look cool, confident and in control. Rodney, taking advantage of the order I gave him scowled, "Dr. Weir is not pleased with the condition of his men. There will be no negotiations until they've been cared for properly." Although that was nowhere near what I had said, it is probably what I should have said, and would have said if not distracted by the…distractions… both of them.

"You should consider yourself lucky that we allowed you to see them and are even entertaining negotiating with you."

"And you should consider yourself lucky we don't just blow the hell out of this settlement of yours from orbit, which is exactly what we will do if they don't live. So, you decide, giant fireball of death wiping out everything in sight or give Beckett his medical kit back and finally let him do his job."

"You don't know where this particular world is located. I do not take well to false threats." I feared Fornus would call our bluff, but Rodney, in true McKay form, ruthlessly bullied over him.

"You know we have technology well beyond your capabilities, including long-range scanning and tracking abilities. Do you really think that the leader of our expedition would come to this planet just to recover two men without some sort of security to back him up? But, hey, it's all up to you."

Fornus glared at him, but Rodney simply glared back and began humming to himself. Fighting back a snicker at the tune, I couldn't help but think, 'Alex, I'll take astrophysicists that could eat you for breakfast for one thousand'. The Hoffan looked my way and I instantly stifled a bored yawn. Finally, he relented. "We'll be back after we eat our midday meal."

When they had left all except for a contingent of men to guard us, I caught sight of Rodney and Ronon easing Colonel to the ground, but I was more interested in the dialing device. "Now?" I asked Teyla and she released my hand.

"Yes, now." At her acquiescence, I pushed the button, not knowing if it had worked or not, but figured we would know soon enough.

"So, now we wait," I sighed quietly to Teyla and we made our way over to the men on the ground.

As we walked up I could hear Colonel Sheppard request, "Lie to me and tell me Radek's in charge."

"Of course I am in charge," I offered haughtily. "Was just matter of time before true cream rose to surface and curds sank to bottom."

"Cream? You? I'd say you're more like a nondairy creamer… dry, fake and a poor substitute for the real thing. Oh, and if you weren't too busy groping Teyla, did you manage to activate the autodialer?"

Teyla's eyebrows rose in warning. "The device was activated, Rodney. And there was no groping on Dr. Zelenka's part."

"We better be ready, then," Ronon stood even as he spoke, keeping a keen eye out.

"What autodialer?" Sheppard demanded. "Rodney, what have you done?"

"We dialed back to Atlantis so they can track the transponder Carson has in his field kit. As soon as they have a lock on the address, Lorne will be sending in the cavalry."

"And how long should that take," Carson asked apprehensively.

"Approximately five minutes," I assured them. "Definitely no longer than ten."

"And how long before Fornus realizes that the gate is active?" Carson had barely finished his question when a man came running into the plaza where we were gathered.

"Fornus! Fornus! The ring of the Ancestors! It has been opened by someone other than us!" The man barely slowed, giving us the quickest of untrusting looks before continuing on.

"I'd say about a minute and a half," Rodney responded after a glance at his watch. The guards that had been left behind looked from the direction of the gate, to the building their leader had gone to take his meal, to us, hands going cautiously to their guns.

"Now what?" Colonel Sheppard's tone was somewhere between worry, curiosity and weary acceptance of the fact that he had no control over his fate.

"Now, we stall. Radek, you're on," Rodney hissed at me and eased out from behind Colonel Sheppard when we saw Fornus and his men stalking toward us.

"What is the meaning of this? Why has the ring activated?"

"How should we know? We've been sitting here the entire time."

Wholly unconvinced by Rodney's argument, Fornus pulled his own gun and placed it in the center of Rodney's forehead. "Give me one good reason why I should not kill you and everyone else here for breaking the rules of our meeting."

Rodney squeezed his eyes shut and tried to stammer an answer but nothing came to him except a mumbled chant of, "Ohshitohshitohshitohshit."

"Fornus," Carson started to speak as calmly as possible. "There is no reason…"

"Dr. Beckett, have you seen what a gunshot to the head looks like?" The Hoffan leader's question was almost conversational.

"Yes, to be honest, I have," Carson admitted quietly.

"Then unless you want to see it again up close, I suggest you remain quiet, or tell me what has happened with the circle."

"Fornus, we didn't do anything with the gate, so put the gun down."

"Colonel Sheppard, I have been more than patient with your people. But unless I get an answer right now, I will kill Dr. McKay where he stands." His finger tightened on the trigger as his lips curled in a conceited sneer as he addressed Rodney. "I knew you were lying about the ship."

To my side I could see Ronon easing his raised hands up behind his head. If he pulled a knife, he could kill Fornus, but could he do it before the man killed Rodney? Perhaps. But I am not a gambler. Oh, sure, I play cards for video games and contraband items, but never have I gambled with a person's life if I could help it. And unfortunately I didn't think I could help it now. No, I am usually not one to play fast and loose with a person's life, especially my own. But sometimes we are not given much of a choice in these matters.

With a rip, I tore the autodialer from my jacket and raised it high above my head. "I have a bomb and I'm not afraid to use it!" I bellowed in Czech.

Fornus looked anxiously at me then back at Rodney without moving the gun. "What is he saying?" When Rodney didn't answer he grit louder, "What is he saying?"

"He's saying…" Rodney's eyes darted to me in wide-eyed desperation. "He's saying…"

"Can you translate for him or not?"

At Fornus's demand, Rodney's fear transmuted into something I was much more used to seeing… annoyance. "Well, it would be a hell of a lot easier to understand the man if I didn't have yet another fucking gun pointed at my head."

"Believe me; it will be even harder when your brains are splattered across this courtyard." The Hoffan's threat had Rodney once again pleading with me with his eyes.

"A bomb! I have a bomb!" When he still didn't comprehend my meaning, I yelled, "Kaboom!" and pointed at the device in my hand.

"A bomb! He has a bomb!" I nodded my head that he finally understood, then glared menacingly when Fornus eyed me guardedly. "And… uh… it's connected to the gate and… and when he opened the gate remotely it activated the bomb. So that's what's going on with the gate. There. Now, I've answered your question and you can put the gun down and please don't shoot me."

But he did not lower the gun; instead he turned to me, "If you set off a bomb, it will kill you, as well."

I shrugged slightly. "He does make a very good point there."

Rodney, however, translated it as, "Yes, but our people would be safe from you."

"Ah, yes, good idea!" I squared my shoulders nobly. "We will save the galaxy from your tyranny and oppression."

"You will no longer be a threat," McKay interpreted.

"We will make the universe a better place to live."

"It will be a worthwhile sacrifice…" Rodney continued.

"Small children will sing the praises of Radek Zelenka, savior of Pegasus."

"One we are all willing to make…"

"Perhaps even a statue will be set up in town squares throughout the various solar systems."

"For the good of all humankind…"

"Nothing too fancy. Bronze, because it will last longer than stone, of course."

"And that is all I'm going to say on the matter." Rodney glared at me meaningfully, silently telling me to shut the hell up, and I clamped my mouth closed with a resolute expression.

Fisting into Rodney's shirt, Fornus maneuvered him over closer to me with the gun still against his skull. "Disable the bomb. Now."

I simply shook my head no.

"I will kill Dr. McKay right here if you don't."

At my soundless waggle of the autodialer, Rodney told him, "I think he means to detonate the bomb if you do that." With a nod of my head in the affirmative I smiled smugly at the madman. Dear God, what was I doing?

It was then that another guard ran into the plaza. "The circle of the Ancients… it has shut down." Bending in half, he gulped air. "A few moments after it opened… it closed down again."

"It's a failsafe on the gate," Rodney explained quickly. "If nothing goes through, it shuts down automatically."

"And the bomb?" Fornus inquired.

"It's still active. He's the only one that can disable it."

Fornus seemed to size up Rodney as he stood with a gun barrel pressed into his forehead. Finally, as if coming to a decision, he asked simply, "You're a very smart man, aren't you, Dr. McKay?"

"Well, actually, yes, I am."

"Good, then you can disable the bomb." With those words, Fornus shifted his arm from pointing at Rodney's head so that it was pointing at me. And without another word, he pulled the trigger.

I have never been shot before. It is something I would have been happy to avoid. The blast hit me in the chest hard enough to knock me onto my back into the dirt of the courtyard, hard enough to have my ears ringing from the sound of the discharge, hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs, hard enough to have sky swirling above me. It felt like the time when I was twelve and my grandfather's mule kicked me. He had a farm outside of Prague and my sister dared me to tug the mule's tail. And what twelve-year-old boy can resist a challenge put upon them by his baby sister? The kind that will avoid three cracked ribs, that is who. Children, they do stupid things. And sometimes adults do also, like pretending to be gangster when they are simple engineers.

But pain, it is part of life, no? It is what lets you know that you are still alive. Somewhere through the hazy humming, I could hear Rodney yelling my name, and cursing me…braying like that old mule on my grandfather's farm. This rather reminded me of his farm…lying on my back watching fluffy clouds float by in blue sky with buzzing of insects in my ears. Small, warm hands were turning my face away from the sky and suddenly white clouds were replaced by brown eyes creased in worry and framed by long brown hair. Then there was popping noises and screaming and someone yelling that the Circle of the Ancestors had opened again. I could see Teyla's lips moving, trying to say something comforting, I was sure. My chest hurt. That must mean I was still alive, yes?

"It worked," I mumbled as I struggled to drag in a breath, no longer sure which language I spoke and whether or not Teyla could even understand me. "It worked," I told her with a smile. But that smile had nothing to do with her reassurances she continued to give me and everything to do with the wavering shape of a jumper uncloaking into view above her.

xxxx

There is an ethical idea known as supererogation, the premise of which involves going beyond what is necessary to help or serve others. It's a rather simple premise shrouded in a great deal of philosophical controversy. The teachings of the Church states these selfless acts, if they exist, can be, in a sense, stockpiled to make up for when we don't do everything that is necessary in a situation. Others believe that there is no such thing as supererogation; that we are morally obligated to do everything possible to help others, such as in the parable of the Good Samaritan. So that the concept of doing _more _than what is required is counterintuitive.

I've witnessed men and women die in the service of their country, in service of their planet, in service of their people. I've seen scientists frozen by cooling agents and burned alive by radiation, service men and women shot down in the prime of their lives, physicians fall prey to the disease they were trying to stave off. I've attempted to breath life into what I knew was nothing but an empty shell because I'm obligated to try to save an injured person. It is my duty, just like the soldier, just like the scientist, to do _everything_ necessary; therefore, I have always felt that there was _nothing_ that could go beyond the obligations we had taken on when we traveled through the stargate and into the Pegasus Galaxy. I firmly believed I had done everything necessary since I had arrived. I just wasn't sure that everything I had done was right.

But when Radek took a bullet, not to save the lives of an entire race, but to try and save the small band of friends that were currently being held at gunpoint by Fornus and his men, I decided I had finally seen an act above and beyond the call of duty.

He's an engineer. He should have been in the lab arguing with the other scientists or in the control room chastising the gate techs not to eat near the computers. He shouldn't have been brandishing a fake bomb on an alien world trying to fast-talk his way to our freedom. And he most definitely shouldn't have been lying in the dirt after being shot point blank by a deranged despot.

"Ho-ly shit!" Colonel Sheppard declared beside me when the Czech went flying backward. Ronon already had a knife flying toward the gunman, tackling the guard nearest to him when the blade sunk home in Fornus's neck. And then the bullets started flying. "Down! Carson, stay down!" But I ignored the Colonel's orders, crawling my way toward the injured scientist instead. And evidently Rodney had the same idea because I could hear Sheppard yelling, "Goddammit, McKay, get your ass down!"

"Radek, you son of a bitch!" Rodney's own form of worry could be heard loud and clear above the gunfire… gunfire that stopped as suddenly as it started when the jumper miraculously appeared above our heads.

At the manifestation of the craft hovering protectively over us, the remaining guards scattered, but I barely noticed as I had finally reached our downed man who was smiling dazedly up at Teyla, mumbling in Czech and struggling to draw breath. "All will be well, Radek," she soothed. "Dr. Beckett is here now."

The entrance hole in his tuxedo still smoked from the weapon Fornus had fired and I yanked the jacket open to reveal… a pristine white shirt. Rodney's expression of bewilderment was a mirror of Teyla's as I ran a hand over the area where he should have been bleeding and received nothing more than a face screwed in pain and a wince.

"And I repeat: Radek, you son of a bitch!" I continued my probe despite Rodney's outburst, still unable to believe the lack of blood. "How did you manage to not get shot?"

I was rewarded with a bemused giggle between his gasping as I evidently hit a ticklish spot and Zelenka opened his jacket further to reveal homemade pockets sewn on the inside of the tuxedo. "You were not only one to partake in arts and crafts last night, Rodney." He pulled out one of the lightweight ceramic panels that normally lined the field vests. "They would take field gear, but was doubtful they would take my clothes." He sat up, scrunching his face as he rubbed at the bruised area on his rib but his breathing was already evening out. "'Godfather' was good movie, but 'The Sting' was even better. Henry Gondorf I can relate to much better… smart and handsome." He tapped his nose knowingly and I couldn't help but laugh. It had been days since I had even considered the notion of laughing and having seen Radek rise from the dead and a patrol of Marines pouring out of the back hatch of the jumper joining Ronon in the pursuit of the dispersing guards, I couldn't think of a reason not to. Teyla joined in with me and Rodney, once he had punched his fellow scientist in the shoulder for scaring him so, actually chuckled a few times himself before scampering back over to see to Colonel Sheppard who was trying to push himself to his feet

"Dr. Beckett," Major Lorne approached us with his P90 in hand, "is everyone all right here?"

"Aye," I beamed up at him happily, "we are. We really, truly are." My smile wavered when I saw Sheppard and McKay making their way slowly toward the jumper, the Colonel leaning heavily against his human crutch. "Do you have medical supplies with you?"

"Yes, sir. Dr. Biro packed them herself."

"Well, then it's too bad we don't need to cut through manacles," Rodney provided as they approached us. "Because I'm sure there's a saw in there somewhere."

Major Lorne attempted to relieve Rodney of his Commanding Officer, but Rodney refused to move. "Lorne, round up the villagers and disarm them," Colonel Sheppard ordered, doing his best to stand straighter and failing miserably.

"Yes, Sir. It's good to see that you're doing…well." The Major couldn't quite keep the questioning inflection from his last word.

"Major, I'm about as far from well as a person can be and still have a pulse. But I appreciate the attempt."

"Well?" Rodney snorted as he led his charge past the Major and into the jumper. "You look like you fell down a well maybe. Although you smell like you fell in a vat in a distillery."

"It was just a little medical improvisation," I defended in response to Rodney's crinkled nose as I followed them in. "Making due with what we had on hand."

"What did you have on hand, a frat house? Leave it to the two of you to turn a hostage crisis into a Phi Kappa Kegger."

"Rodney…" I wasn't sure if the slightly breathless tone to the Colonel's word was from exasperation with his teammate or desperation for a seat, but the way Rodney tightened his hold on him as he started to collapse had me guessing it was much more of the second.

"Whoa!" I helped to ease Colonel Sheppard so that he could lay on the bench seat as Rodney attempted to hide his growing worry with more banter. "Careful, Sheppard. You're going to ruin all my hard work on your arm if you fall on it."

"Your…hard…work?" John's words slurred as I searched through the supplies for an I.V. and the antibiotics that I needed to administer, as well as a healthy dose of painkillers… the good stuff as Rodney liked to call it. The sheer volume and choice of materials and instruments I had to dig through made me want to weep for joy just to see them.

"Well, Carson helped, I suppose." Rodney draped an emergency blanket over the Colonel then took a seat near his head. "I'm sure it was a new concept for him, setting a bone instead of having to put his patient down like he usually would have to do in the corral, but he seemed to adapt pretty well."

Ignoring the insult, I took a real honest to God sterile wipe and cleaned an area on the back of Sheppard's hand, breathing in the heady sanitary smell deeply before inserting the I.V. port. "Don't… 'member… that…way." He finally gave up trying to focus on us and closed his eyes.

"Well, I'm not surprised. Seeing as you _fainted _halfway through and all." Rodney fidgeted with the blanket, tugging it up under the Colonel's chin. When he received no response for his goad, he shook the other man's chest. "Sheppard!"

John roused but didn't open his eyes. "Didn't faint… passed out."

Leaving his hand resting on the Colonel's chest, he exhaled in relief. "Passed out drunk, maybe."

Satisfied with the I.V. port, I attached the bag of fluids and started the flow. "Jealous… you had to leave…McKay?"

"Not sure jealous is the right word, Sheppard." I paused in my preparation of the hypodermic needle to see a flutter of emotions play across Rodney's face… worry, regret, guilt… before he continued offhandedly. "Lucky, maybe. Fortunate that I wasn't here to witness the drunken debauchery that probably occurred in that cell."

"Not all of us are as lascivious as you, Rodney." I injected the pain meds into the tubing port and watched as the lines of tension eased on Sheppard's face and subsequently the lines of worry on Rodney's did the same as I nodded reassuringly to indicate the Colonel was going to be resting easy now. "You were the one to return with a team that looked more like they were ready for a night out in Las Vegas than a rescue mission."

"Radek." With a shake of his head he leaned it back against the bulkhead wearily. "I can't decide if I want to whack him upside the head or pat him on the back."

"Well, as ridiculous as his attire may have appeared, it ended up saving his life." I began preparing the antibiotics to administer through the I.V. line. "And his little bomb scare ended up saving us all."

"Saved my ass so I could have a heart attack right where I stood." Rodney rubbed at tired eyes with his hand that wasn't in contact with the Colonel. "I swear, between him and Sheppard and you and guns to my head, I'm surprised my aorta hasn't just bust through my chest a la 'Aliens'."

"Me?" I asked in surprise. "What do I have to do with worrying you to death?"

"Because, Carson, I know you. You felt responsible for this whole ordeal, which when you get right down to it, you were. But you take these responsibilities of yours so seriously that I was sure you would go off and do something rash. You never do anything small. When you fuck up, it's a fuck up of enormous proportions. And when you do something right…" he shrugged with a sigh as his eyes flicked to the sleeping man beside him, "people live when they probably wouldn't have."

I felt my lips curve into a genuine smile. "Well, then, I suppose we have a great deal in common, Rodney."

"I guess so," he agreed with a small grin of his own. "Except for your proclivity for sheep. I've always found wool to be too itchy to consider it a turn on."

My smile vanishing in annoyance, I opened my mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by Major Lorne and Ronon. "Colonel Sheppard, we need to know what to do with the detainees."

"I'm sorry, Major, but Colonel Sheppard won't be making any command decisions for a while, at least until the drugs I gave him wear off." Turning my attention to Ronon, I noticed a trail of blood streaming down from his shoulder. "You're injured; let me take a look at that."

"It's nothing," the Satedan dismissed. "We need to take care of the people out here first. My first instinct would be to do what McKay threatened and blow them to bits from orbit. But that would be wrong, huh?"

"I would be lying if I said that wasn't my first thought, too," I admitted, "but yes, I believe that would qualify as wrong."

"Well, they're a threat to Atlantis," Major Lorne reasoned, "we just can't leave them here. At the very least, we need to destroy the gate so they can't try the same thing again."

"No, no, no, no, no. No destroying it." Rodney interjected from his seat. "We can use it in our gate system back to Earth."

I shook my head. "But that would strand them here. Cut them off entirely. Look around, there aren't any farms here. These people came from a fairly developed society. They obviously rely on trade for all their needs."

"Then they learn to survive. They're murderers; that's more mercy than they deserve."

Letting Ronon's words settle over me, I walked out the back of the jumper to see the plaza filling with people. Men and women and children huddling together as the Marines stood guard. I saw the man that had nearly strangled Rodney to death in front of me and thought maybe Ronon was right, maybe they didn't deserve the mercy I was suggesting. But then I saw the man that had traded his bottle of klavak, saw him place an arm around a frightened woman, saw my watch on her wrist as she clutched at his shirt. "A bonnie bobble for a bonnie lass," I mumbled under my breath.

"Sir?" Major Lorne asked from beside me.

"They aren't murderers, Major. They were doing what they thought was necessary." And when, I added silently, had we not done the exact same thing? Fornus had taken it to an extreme, to be sure, and it had cost him his life. But these people were just acting to make sure no one had to suffer the same fate their people had suffered. It might not have been right, but it had been necessary in their eyes. And that had to count for something. If it didn't, all the good deeds, all the lives I had saved, were for naught in light of the mistakes I had made. And I refused to believe that.

It was a difficult path I traversed every day and good intentions only went so far. But when I eventually reached the end of the road, I hoped that the right choices I had made were going to be enough to counteract the bad. And I knew deep in my gut that stranding these people was the wrong choice and it was one I was willing to argue when we returned to Atlantis.

"We aren't the ones to make this decision anyway," I acknowledged. "We need to get back to Atlantis. Colonel Sheppard should be in the infirmary and I need to bandage Ronon's wound."

"I said it was nothing," he protested once again.

"And last I checked, I was the physician around here and treating those in my care is one decision I can make," I told him, leaving no grounds for argument.

"Fine," he relented with a roll of his eyes, "but it really is going overboard."

"All the better, then." With a satisfied smirk that I had won this round, I ushered him back into the jumper and gathered a package of bandages. He was right, the wound was small, but even the small things can add up to big one, and I'd take every point I could gain.

Tally one more mark for Dr. Carson Beckett in the good column. And hopefully they would multiply like the wee bunnies.

xxxx

Gate travel; not one of my favorite undertakings.

But seeing as Rodney had appointed me to head up the movement of the stargate from the planet we had just rescued Carson and Colonel Sheppard, I really didn't have much choice in the matter.

"Dr. Zelenka." At Elizabeth's hail I looked up to control room as I made my way up from the embarkation area. "Welcome back. How goes the gate transfer?"

"The team dispatched to planet to begin preliminary disconnections are starting work and as soon as Hollorans have been relocated to their new home, we will finish remapping of system coordinates so that it can be set up as part of gate bridge back to Earth."

"Very good. The Daedalus has been rerouted to report directly to the planet prior to returning here to Atlantis for our resupply, so we're expecting them to arrive early next week. And Major Lorne has said negotiations with the inhabitants of PX9-446 are going well and they seem receptive to allowing the Hollorans to settle with their people."

"Then, I see no reason why we cannot be ready to move stargate when Daedalus is in position."

A determination had been made to move the former Hoffans to an already populated world, but one with the stargate in orbit so that they would not be able to leave. Carson had argued strongly on the grounds that they could offer a great deal in the way of technological advancements to the less developed civilization while being allowed to integrate out of their reclusive ways with a guarantee of food and shelter. Rodney was just pleased to have one more gate for his bridge back to Earth. And I was just glad to put my action hero days behind me. I had escaped with a small bruise and a hole in my tuxedo and a return of the entire team to Atlantis, and that was good enough for me.

"That's excellent news. I have a planned check in with Major Lorne here in just a minute, so I'll let him know we're on schedule." She turned to leave then stopped. "Oh, and Radek, things have been a little hectic around here since your return two days ago, so I haven't had a chance to say it, but good job out there. From what I hear, the team probably owes their lives to you."

Feeling my face warm from the compliment, I bobbed my head with embarrassed smile and watched her walk away. "Dear diary," Rodney's teasing voice cut through my pleasure as he watched our expedition leader's retreat from over my shoulder, "today was a red letter day. I had barely recovered the ability to speak from Teyla pressing her bosom against me when Elizabeth cast her doting gaze on me and declared me the state hero of Atlantis. I'm anticipating the need for an extra long shower this evening. In other news, I didn't die when I was shot at close range by a psychopath."

"You did not die either, Rodney. Have you thought of that?" With a shove on the bridge of my glasses, I started away from the man mocking me at a quick pace.

He, however, jogged to catch up. "As a matter of fact, Radek, I have thought of that… a lot." Looking to him in surprise at his confession, he rolled his eyes. "Give me a little credit, here, would you. I'm not nearly as self-absorbed as people think I am. Besides, I can only watch Sheppard snore through a morphine induced stupor for so long before my mind starts to…wander."

"If so bored, you could have left infirmary, you know," I grumbled.

"Please. I saved the man's life, it's kind of obligatory that I stick around to make sure he wakes up."

"_You_ saved his life?" I crossed my arms in disbelieving challenge of his assessment of the situation.

"With a little help from you," he admitted almost reluctantly then added when I simply glared. "Okay, more than a little help."

"Dear Diary," I mimicked dryly, "today Rodney conceded that I was present during rescue mission. My heart may stop beating under such lavish praise."

When I turned to walk away, he fell into step once again. "Look, Radek, the truth is, you didn't have to go on the mission, but you did. And because you did, it was a success. I'm not sure we could have said that if you hadn't gone." He grabbed my arm and stopped my progression down the hallway. "Remember what I told you before about trusting people? How I could count the people that I did trust on one hand?" He held up his hand in demonstration. "Well, they were all back there on that planet."

"Really?" I asked in surprise. "I am really one of the people you trust most?"

With a grin he wiggled his little pinky finger at me. "That's you, Radek, right there."

"I am pinky? Gee, thanks so much."

"Considering that I have more genius in my little finger than most of this expedition combined, you should consider that a compliment."

"From you, it is great compliment." Sad thing was, I was telling the truth. And even though I continued to mope, on inside I really was flattered that he would even say so much.

He hitched his head toward the infirmary. "Come on, we're going to sign Sheppard's cast. You need to, too."

"Me?"

"Well, you did save his life, didn't you?"

And with a proud spring in my step, I followed him into the Colonel's room. Ronon and Teyla were already there, along with Carson who was giving yet another check to his patient.

"I don't understand why we are doing this," the large warrior was grumbling as he watched Teyla draw an elaborate circling knot on the cast.

"It's an Earth custom," Sheppard explained propped up in his hospital bed. "So you can look at your cast and not feel so bad because you know your friends are cheering for you to get better. What did you do on Sateda when someone had a cast?"

"Taunt them for being so weak that they had to wear a cast," he shrugged.

Scowling through his bruising at the insult, the Colonel observed, "Hey, you didn't walk away from this whole thing unscathed either."

With a glance at the bandage on his arm, Ronon smirked. "This is nothing. I've had worse from you, Sheppard."

"That's true," Rodney piped in, effectively announcing our arrival. "I had two guns pointed at me and neither one of them were by you, Colonel. It felt so… unnatural."

"You two are never going to let that go, are you?"

"No," Rodney and Ronon answered simultaneously.

"Well, at least Teyla still likes me," Colonel Sheppard fixed the Athosian with as warm a smile as he could manage with his swollen lip as she finished up her drawing. "So what is it? Some sort of symbol of healing?"

"Actually, it's a symbol of protection," she explained. "Athosian mothers often give medallions with this pattern for their children to wear… their clumsy and accident prone children."

And the scowl was back on Sheppard's face, as he pulled the cast away from her in a funk. Snatching the pen from Teyla's hand, Rodney declared, "My turn," and quickly started drawing a three dimensional cylindrical shape, with several notations of values described as letters below it.

"What the hell is that?"

Rodney tapped the shape with the marker before handing it over to his confused friend. "Calculate the radius where the 0 plane intersects." With a wary expression, the Colonel started scribbling and Rodney turned to me. "So, Radek was just telling Elizabeth all about the preparations for the gate retrieval. This time next week, we'll be two gates away from a half-hour trip back to Earth." He accentuated his pleased expression with a snap pop heel rock before picking up the jello dish on Colonel's lunch tray.

"Well, then I suppose some good came of this whole ordeal after all." The smile was strained but at least present on Carson's face.

"Not that having Sheppard beaten to within an inch of his life was worth a gate, but might as well put a positive spin on things when we can." We looked to the Colonel to see his reaction to Rodney's summation but he was intently working on the math problem the physicist had assigned him.

With a triumphant grin, Sheppard held up his cast with the completed formula written on it. "Ha! The equation spells 'Rodney'. I don't know if it's more pathetic that you came up with that, McKay, or that I solved it."

Rodney returned the grin around a spoonful of red gelatin. "I'll admit that it's more complicated than writing 'boob' on a calculator…"

The Colonel's smile broadened, "I was the first kid in fourth grade to figure that one out."

"…but, I thought you might be up to the precalculus level challenge that it presented."

"Ronon, you're up." Sheppard handed the pen over to the Satedan. "I'm counting on you to come up with something to override the geekanerd badge that McKay gave me."

Ronon thought for a moment before finally scrawling in a sharp, angular, alien script. "What's it say?" Colonel Sheppard asked as he tilted his head as though that would help him read it.

"It's the unspoken code that every warrior of Sateda lived by."

"All right! Now we're talking. So, what is it?" Sheppard waggled his one unbandaged eyebrow in eager anticipation.

"I just told you; it's unspoken. That's why I wrote it down."

"But I can't _read _Satedan, Ronon."

At the Colonel's frustrated tone, Ronon just shrugged. "Then I guess you'll have to get by with reading geekanerd."

With a final glower, he yanked the pen from Ronon and handed it toward Dr. Beckett. "Carson?"

The physician, who was busy checking charts, glanced up from his electronic tablet. "I'll be back in just a moment, Colonel. There appears to be a discrepancy in the records as to when you last received your antibiotics. I need to straighten this out with the nurse on duty."

Rodney waved a dismissive hand to the departing Scot, "Besides, his branding iron is evidently still heating in the fire. Let Radek go next."

"Very well." Taking the marker, I wrote neatly in my native lettering in a line straight out from his pinky.

"Oh, God, you're not going to keep this a secret, too, are you?" The gripe was directed at me, but Sheppard was looking meaningfully to Ronon when he spoke it.

"No, no, I can tell. It is old Czech proverb. It says, 'do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends'."

Teyla's hand landed on my shoulder with a gentle squeeze. "I cannot think of a more appropriate sentiment for the occasion."

"Here, here," Sheppard agreed, offering his good hand for a shake.

I took his hand and ducked my head in acknowledgment. "Now if you will excuse me, I have data to download and a tuxedo to mend."

"Not going to wear the bullet hole as a badge of honor?" the Colonel asked. "You know what they say, chicks dig scars."

"Sheppard here is living proof of that," Rodney pointed out with condescending glee. "Although, I've always found a truer statement to be smart is sexy."

"Got that one covered, too." With a tap of marker against his mathematical solution, the Colonel quickly removed the smirk from Rodney's face.

"Perhaps you are correct," I conceded. "I will keep that in mind." With a final goodbye, I left for my quarters.

Behind me in Colonel Sheppard's hospital room, his teammates remained. "Radek's saying was nice, but my signature was more creative. Right?" I shook my head with a chuckle at Rodney's appeal for reassurance. "Right?"

"What I want to see," said Ronon, "is this calculator that has boobs."

The door slid closed behind me as I entered the hallway, cutting off the laughter from inside the infirmary from my own snicker. Turning toward the lab, I started mentally going through all the things I really did need to take care of before finally calling it a night. I fumbled with my tablet to make a notation then stopped when I noticed the icon for my personal files. Deciding why the hell not, I tapped the folder with my stylus until the blank page appeared.

Dear Diary, today really was a red-letter day….

The End


End file.
